Why do i use bandwidth doing nothing?

Due to my parents Im stuck on a 10gb a month Internet plan (I can picture some of you cringing as you read that). Due to recent events we may run out before our monthly term is over. I have been checking my computers network meter recently to see how im using the Internet. One thing I have noticed is that my computer seems to use a fair bit of data without my knowledge... Is there a way (short of unplugging the Ethernet cable) of stopping my computer sending or receiving data unless I specifically tell the process to (e.g perform a Google search), which will stop again once I end the process/close the program?

Thanks

Tomha said:

Due to my parents Im stuck on a 10gb a month Internet plan (I can picture some of you cringing as you read that). Due to recent events we may run out before our monthly term is over. I have been checking my computers network meter recently to see how im using the Internet. One thing I have noticed is that my computer seems to use a fair bit of data without my knowledge... Is there a way (short of unplugging the Ethernet cable) of stopping my computer sending or receiving data unless I specifically tell the process to (e.g perform a Google search), which will stop again once I end the process/close the program?

Thanks

Not really. A lot goes on in the background like mail, dns, time sync, browser cache, etc.

You can install NetBalancer (free version) which will likely enable you to track down the culptit/s.
The free version allows you to set up to 5 application restrictions (you can swap these as you go along) and so drill down on how much bandwidth individual applications are using.

Once you have discovered the offender, you can then set about resolving the problem. It may transpire you can deal with the issue without any further need of NetBalancer. On the other hand you can use the software to set bandwidth limits for individual applications, block them entirely, and block/unblock all network traffic as required. Among other features.

HowToGeek has a detailed tutorial about installing and getting the best from NetBalancer, which I recommend you to follow.

I tried home hosting a minecraft server without knowing it uses over 100mb an hour and used 4.5gb over 3 days :P

I shall try NetBalancer, thanks.