Solved Excessive bandwidth usage

[bigseb]

I have been going through bandwidth like crazy the last two or so months. I really have no idea what's causing it. I have tried a variety of virus/malware scanners as I initially thought it was spyware. Turns out it wasn't. Next I disabled as much as possible via msconfig and turned off automatic updates. Still no change. I even reinstalled my entire OS and installed only the software I need to survive i.e. Alibre Design, MoI, Keyshot, Z88 (these are CAD programs), Firefox, Thunderbird and Mass Effect 2. Still the downloading continues...

Here the problem: if I connect to the internet to, say, send an email in Thunderbird I'll end up using approx 100Mb in 10 minutes without opening any other program, incl the browser. I can see from my network manager that something is being downloaded but it doesn't say what program is causing it. 500Mb cost me ZAR160... adds up when you purchase a new bundle every 3 days

I'm clutching at straws here. I have been to 3 different IT chaps and they are stumped too. I'm thinking (maybe hoping) that it is Alibre Design's update system that has something to do with this. No-one else has this problem though.

For interests sake, my laptop has the exact same problem. It is setup exactly the same as my desktop except it doesn't have Mass Effect installed.

Also, my wife's laptop is set up the same as both my PC but without the CAD stuff and she doesn't have this problem...

Help me please!!

 

[F5ing]

Use Windows 7's Resource Monitor (type it in at the Start menu) and you should be able to see IP addresses you're communicating with.

 

[bigseb]

Use Windows 7's Resource Monitor (type it in at the Start menu) and you should be able to see IP addresses you're communicating with.

Had a look at this. It only tells me the bytes/second usage, not the total number of bytes used.

Thanks though.

 

[F5ing]

True, everything is listed as bytes/sec, but if all this traffic occurs within 10 minutes it shouldn't take long to spot the culprit.

 

[bigseb]

Been looking at the resource monitor last night. 3 programs were constantly sending information: Firefox, Thunderbird (duh) and Alibre

Alibre was sending and receiving at 200bytes/sec but that only comes to 235kb in 10 minutes...

 

[Influx]

Been looking at the resource monitor last night. 3 programs were constantly sending information: Firefox, Thunderbird (duh) and Alibre

Alibre was sending and receiving at 200bytes/sec but that only comes to 235kb in 10 minutes...

Does the problem still occur?

 

[F5ing]

...For interests sake, my laptop has the exact same problem. It is setup exactly the same as my desktop except it doesn't have Mass Effect installed.

Also, my wife's laptop is set up the same as both my PC but without the CAD stuff and she doesn't have this problem...

So two of the three machines have the problem and those two have one thing in common: the installation of CAD apps. Right?

Did the problem start with the installation or update of any of those CAD apps? Are there any setting in them where you can allow/disallow internet access?

Did you do any searches related to the IP addresses that were connected?

 

[dreamer]

In my opinion the best solution is to install comodo free firewall.It has a nice little feature of showing active connections and which program is using how many bytes of data connection.

Hope this helps

 

[bigseb]

Been looking at the resource monitor last night. 3 programs were constantly sending information: Firefox, Thunderbird (duh) and Alibre

Alibre was sending and receiving at 200bytes/sec but that only comes to 235kb in 10 minutes...

Does the problem still occur?

Not last night it didn't

 

[bigseb]

...For interests sake, my laptop has the exact same problem. It is setup exactly the same as my desktop except it doesn't have Mass Effect installed.

Also, my wife's laptop is set up the same as both my PC but without the CAD stuff and she doesn't have this problem...

So two of the three machines have the problem and those two have one thing in common: the installation of CAD apps. Right?

Did the problem start with the installation or update of any of those CAD apps? Are there any setting in them where you can allow/disallow internet access?

Did you do any searches related to the IP addresses that were connected?

No I didn't do any searches. Thing is, I have been using this CAD software for the last 2 years, the bandwidth issue only started 2 months ago

 

[bigseb]

In my opinion the best solution is to install comodo free firewall.It has a nice little feature of showing active connections and which program is using how many bytes of data connection.

Hope this helps

This sounds interesting. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

 

[bigseb]

I think I found the problem: Thunderbird!! :shock:

Everytime I started Thunderbird my modem starting melting (j/k). Removed my gmail account and now its fine. Who'da thunkit?

*happy dance*

 

[dreamer]

That's a good news bigseb and thanks for reporting back

 

[F5ing]

Great! I'm interested in knowing what tipped you off that your modem was turning into a heaping blob of plastic and metal! LED's on the modem itself?

 

[bigseb]

lol... yeah that and the connection kept dropping

Technology, hey?