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How to find out what is loading the Internet. What and what programs is my Internet network loaded with, where does the traffic disappear? Limiting download and upload speeds for any program

Question from a user

Hello.

Tell me, how can I find out which programs are loading my Internet channel? The fact is that although I have unlimited traffic, I have a very slow speed tariff (only 500 KB/s, i.e. every kilobyte counts).

Previously, my torrent always downloaded at a speed of about 500 KB/s, but now something happened, as if someone was eating up my traffic. What can be done?

Good day.

Let's hope that Elon Musk will quickly launch his free high-speed satellite Internet and cover the whole Earth with it...

In general, your question has some background: the fact is that the decrease in speed could not have occurred due to the fact that some program began to secretly use your network (although this is also possible) ...

Therefore, in this article I will show not only how you can find a program that “steals” traffic unnoticed, and how to limit its “appetites”, but I will also point out those points that may also be the cause of the load on the network. So...

Let's find out what programs and services the network is loaded with

Method number 1: through the task manager

If you have Windows 10, then in the task manager you can immediately find out in the same window the CPU load, memory, disk, and network load (which is very convenient!). For example, in the screenshot below, applications are sorted depending on the network load: as you can see, the main source is Utorrent...

Note: to open the task manager, use the Ctrl+Alt+Del or Ctrl+Shift+Esc key combination.

But in general, of course, I agree with many that the task manager is not informative and often does not show the whole picture. In addition, there are no options for limiting or fine-tuning network use.

Method No. 2: special. utilities

In general, there are quite a lot of similar utilities. Every other firewall will also be able to show you which applications are accessing the network. However, in this article I want to focus on one very skillful utility - NetLimiter!

One of the best programs for monitoring network traffic. After installing the program, it monitors absolutely all applications accessing the Internet.

With its help, you can manage traffic (limit it, block it) for each application separately.

In addition, NetLimiter keeps statistics on all connections, and you can always turn to the utility to view graphs and tables.

After installing and launching NetLimiter, click on the "DL Rate" column and you will see all the most "gluttonous" programs (in terms of traffic) at the moment. An example is shown in the screenshot below: as you can see, the lion's share of traffic is used by Utorrent.

NetLimiter - sorted by download traffic

In general, by carefully reading the list of programs presented in NetLimiter, you will find out which applications load your network and “zero” traffic. Below we will look at how you can limit the appetites of a program.

How to limit the download/upload speed of any program on the Internet

Let's say that in the list in NetLimiter you found that "sinister" program that eats up all your traffic. For my example I will take Utorrent and I'll limit its download speed .

Please note that NetLimiter has a special columns with "Limit": DL - download speed limit, UL - upload speed limit. Each application already has a basic limit of 5 KB/s - if you check the box for such a limit, the speed of the selected application will be limited to 5 KB/s...

Let's say I want to limit the download speed of Utorrent to 100 KB/s (after all, the default 5 KB/s is not always suitable).

To begin, right-click on the program and select “Add rule” from the pop-up menu. See example below.

Note: Pay attention to the "Direction" column. By default this column is "In" - i.e. incoming download traffic. It is possible to select "Out" - i.e. outgoing (upload speed), and also limit it.

Speed ​​limit limit (IN means incoming traffic, OUT means outgoing)

Please note that Utorrent is now reflected in the general NetLimiter table with a checkbox for a limit of 100 KB/s.

Download limit set

I’ll show you a screenshot (see below) for a visual representation from Utorrent itself - the total download speed of all added torrents does not exceed 100 KB/s (despite the presence of a large number of seeds and high-speed Internet access).

After the “cherished checkbox” was unchecked in NetLimiter, the download speed immediately began to increase (see screenshot below). Those. The program very effectively allows you to limit and “regulate” the speed of application access to the network.

A few words about the router, provider, and the Utorrent program itself

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that all of the above settings may not give a practical result, and your Internet speed will leave much to be desired. Why?

1) There may be problems with the provider

It’s not uncommon for download speeds on Utorrent to drop due to a problem with the provider (for example, you may be switched to an emergency branch while the main one is under repair).

In addition, if your provider has quite a lot of clients in your home/area, it is possible that, for example, in the evening hours you will see “drawdowns” in download speed (the fact is that in the evenings and on weekends the majority of people go online , and there is not always enough bandwidth for everyone...).

To help! How to find out the Internet speed on a computer -

2) Pay attention to the router (and other devices that you have connected to the network)

If you have several devices connected to the Internet (for example, in addition to a PC, you may also have a laptop, phone, tablet, etc.) - pay attention to them too.

Pay attention to the router (if you use one): as a rule, in its settings you can find out which devices are connected to it, how they use the network, etc. There you can often limit the appetites of any of the devices connected to it.

For reference! Detailed installation and configuration of the router:

Router operation status: how many devices are connected, what is the download and upload speed // TENDA

3) Pay attention to the Utorrent program itself

It is worth recognizing that sometimes Utorrent is a very capricious program that may simply “refuse” to download a file at normal speed... There can be many reasons for this: either the wrong version of the program was selected or the optimal settings were not specified.

I have several blog articles dedicated to this topic. Therefore, if you have checked and configured all of the above, but there is no result, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with a couple of materials, the links to which are indicated below.

Why uTorrent downloads at low speed: torrents take a very long time to load -

Analogues of uTorrent: select a program to download torrents -

Additions are welcome.

There may be many programs installed on your computer, and there is a possibility that some of them are using Internet traffic without the user's knowledge.

This is why it is very important to know which applications are using your Internet traffic. At first glance, this may seem like a relatively simple task, but for the most accurate results, it is best to use third-party software.

Using Wireshark

The program is cross-platform and is considered one of the best. It controls bandwidth and monitors traffic. This program monitors network activity, allowing you to see your traffic usage. Once launched, Wireshark will show your internet traffic immediately.

User interface for Winshark.

While Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer, it also allows you to see what's happening on your network at a micro level. Plus, it provides some of the most powerful filters.

For those who want to see detailed information about their traffic, it is possible to view all received network data using a graphical interface.

Network Monitor program

Another program that allows you to control all Internet traffic on your computer. It is a free Microsoft utility. You can download this program from the Microsoft website, but in operating systems starting with Windows 7, it comes already built-in.

User Interface in Network Monitor

This is a basic software designed to monitor network bandwidth and analyze the activity of network protocols. Meets all the basic needs of Windows users. Provides some of the most reliable results. The program also includes analyzing the traffic of specific applications, as well as displaying the ports occupied by them. This is very useful when trying to determine your specific bandwidth usage.

With this software, you can isolate the network traffic of a specific application, and then view and analyze it.

Conclusion

The use of such programs helps to control bandwidth on a daily basis, which is very important for those who have limited traffic. It also helps to identify and eliminate anomalous network activity. Please note that installing these programs may require you to restart your computer.

Let’s help Elena figure out which program is “accessing the Internet” without the user’s permission.

As the most accessible tool, consider Resource Monitor.

Question from Elena:

Dear Sergey!
We are contacting you with the following situation: we live in a border area, we access the Internet through the Finnish mobile operator Saunalahti, via a USB modem. We are in the 2G coverage area, we are strengthening the signal using a GSM antenna and repeater. The maximum speed is 53.6 kbps, during peak hours it is about 11. We have 2 laptops. One, with WIndows XP OS, opens sites much faster than the other, with WIndows 7 OS. On both computers, automatic updates were downloaded and subsequently disabled, but on the new computer something continues to load all the time, and does not allow you to log into Internet.

How can I solve this problem? How can I find out what these downloads are and where can I cancel them? A similar problem occurs here among many users.
We will be glad to hear from you!

Hello, Elena!

Both Windows components and third-party programs can try to access the Internet.

Resource Monitor

You can check which program is accessing the Internet using the resource monitor.

Go to the following Start menu options:
Start => All Programs => Accessories => System Tools => Resource Monitor

Expand the item " Net", connect to the Internet and see what active programs are in the open list.

Using the column " Image" you can find out the name of the program, and using the column " Process ID"You can find out which service is accessing the network.

Once you recognize the Windows component, disable it or restrict Internet access. Once you know the program, remove it from startup and disable its services.

Windows components

First, understand the components of Windows.

Follow the following path:

Start => Control Panel => All Control Panel Items => Update CenterWindows=> Setting parameters

Set " Don't check for updates»

Then, go:

Start => Control Panel => All Control Panel Items => Administrative Tools => Services

Find " Update centreWindows", go to " Properties", set the startup type " Disabled».

(when you are sure that the problem is not with this service, you can set it to “Manual”).

Check "Task Scheduler"

Start => Control Panel => All Control Panel Items => Administrative Tools => Services => Task Scheduler

Programs

Only a running program can access the Internet. To take control of the situation, follow these three steps:

1. Check startup programs: Press and hold the " Win+R", enter " msconfig"(without quotes), tab "".

2. Check the settings of all installed programs.

3. Disable program services (specifically programs, not system services) that you do not use.

These are the most accessible ways to check which program is accessing the Internet.

To thoroughly check your computer for incoming/outgoing traffic, you will have to install a firewall (also known as a firewall, also known as a firewall).

P.S. It may well be that the configuration of the computers does not allow comfortable work in Windows 7, but Elena did not indicate the characteristics of the PC.

Where does the traffic go? How to find a “leak” using the simplest means.

They say that there are two mysteries in nature: where does dust come from, and where does the money go? In the same way, the Internet has its own mystery: where does the traffic “flow”? Of course, in stationary conditions, with modern high-speed lines, this problem has lost its relevance - but as soon as we go on vacation, to nature, to the countryside, where the only way to connect to the Internet is cellular communication, this problem arises in full force. We buy a package of 1-2-4-8 gigabytes from the operator, it seems like we didn’t do anything, but it was used up ((. Where did it go? And is it possible to somehow find the “source of the leak” using “improvised means”?
In general, if you are going “out in nature” and will be using the Internet with limited traffic, it is very advisable in advance install a traffic control program. For example, completely free NetLimiter Monitor. Then, looking at its statistics, we will see, for example, that traffic incoming and outgoing is consumed by the FireFox browser (in the first example) ... or only incoming traffic is consumed by the Miranda instant messaging program. Everything is simple and transparent.

All that remains is to look at the amount of traffic and make a decision to disable, permanently or temporarily, the program - an unnecessary traffic consumer. But what if such a program is not installed in advance and you cannot reboot the system (and after installing NetLimiter Monitor this will be required)? Or is there no way to download this or a similar program at all? "No exit?" (tsy). It turns out that not everything is so sad.
Radio amateurs, when it is not possible to use an accurate, “qualitative” meter, often use a “quantitative” one - which is usually called a tester. In our traffic monitoring system, the tester will be the local network/wireless network/modem indicator - in general, interface, through which the computer is connected to the interface. Also, such a tester can serve as an indicator of the amount of incoming/outgoing traffic of the Dashboard of a cellular modem (cellular modem control program).
How to determine which indicator to focus on? There may be several network/wireless/modem indicators in the tray. It's very simple if you exactly If you don’t know what indicator to look at, we can track the one we need by changing activity. Try, for example, loading any website in your browser and see which indicator has become active - it lights up or blinks rapidly. If there is a red cross next to the indicator, you can immediately ignore it. In the example screenshot, the active interface is marked with a green dot, and the non-working interface is marked with a red dot.
Having found the indicator of our connection to the Internet, we can now begin the audit. First, let’s roughly estimate whether there is a “leak” at all. Let's stop accessing the Internet, wait for all sites to load, etc. - and look at our indicator. It shouldn't burn. If it does not ignite for a long time, even for a short time, there is most likely no “non-productive leak”. But, most likely, you will notice that it periodically “flares up”. This means that some program is accessing the Internet. Let's try to find which program (or browser tab) is doing this.
How can we determine which of the heaps of programs that are currently active on the computer are accessing the Internet? Let's use the "Wolf method" from "Well, Wait a minute!" Remember when he ran into a TV store while chasing the Hare? To determine where the Hare was hiding, he began to turn off the TVs - and eventually found him. So we will try to find the “hare” or “hares”.
To do this, we will use TaskManager. With the “regular” system TaskManager we unload programs when they “freeze”. Is it possible for them, on the contrary, to introduce programs into a controlled “freeze”? Unfortunately no - the standard system TaskManager cannot do this. But there are a huge number of alternative TaskManagers that can do this. We will not consider all such programs - we will limit ourselves to only two.
The first and quite powerful one is. Despite such a loud name, it is completely safe for the system and very powerful in terms of research and management of running programs and processes. Download and install it - it will help you not only in this matter - many issues of the system’s operation can be clarified with its help. If you cannot or do not have the opportunity to install a program (for example, if installation of programs is prohibited or you do not want to add it to the program group), download the portable version. It will allow you to start exploring the system on the go, without unnecessary installations. In addition, you can record the portable version on a flash drive and use it anywhere.
Launch it and let's look at the main window, Processes tab. You will see many programs and processes running on your system. The lower the program is in the window, the later it is launched. The bottommost program in the window is the last one launched.

By the way, this program also indirectly shows which program accesses the Internet (although not only). Look at the I/O Total column. If the program has non-zero numbers in this column, then the program is engaged in data exchange with the “outside world” - in relation to the program memory, of course. If programs related to the Internet (the list will be at the end of the article) have a non-zero figure, feel free to include it in the list of suspects.
Now how are we going to use this program to search for programs that are “active”? Very simple. Starting from the bottom (from the most recent) we will begin to “freeze” Internet programs. To do this, right-click on the program name and select from the menu Suspend Process. After this, we look at our indicator - have access to the Internet stopped? If yes, then we found it All programs that “milk” traffic (most likely, there is more than one of them). If the requests have not stopped - but the “tempo” of blinking has changed - then the “frozen” program is almost certainly one of those “those”. If nothing has changed, “unfreeze” the program by right-clicking on the program name and selecting Resume Process.

Once the “list of accused” is ready, we will evaluate what to do with it. If the list includes only instant messaging and communication programs - for example, Skype (skype.exe), ICQ (icq.exe), Qip (qip.exe), Miranda (miranda32.exe) - then you need to think about whether it’s worth keeping them constantly active. The fact is that these programs constantly exchange data over the Internet - and this cannot be avoided. Some consume little traffic (for example - ICQ, Qip, Miranda), others - somewhat more (for example Skype) - but there will be an exchange in any case. So if you want to save money on these programs, close them when you are not using them. Or “freeze” it for “downtime” with TaskManager. But, by the way, any of these programs consumes very little traffic - so if you have a not entirely limited traffic package, you can leave these programs running constantly.
Another group of programs that can consume traffic even in a “resting state” are browsers. Such as Internet Explorer(iexplorer.exe), Mozilla FireFox(firefox.exe), Mozilla SeaMonkey(seamonkey.exe), Opera(opera.exe), Google Chrome(chrome.exe), Safari(safari.exe) - and perhaps others. Some website pages you open may be designed to periodically load information to update the screen's state. Its volume can sometimes be significant. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to “freeze” a browser bookmark. Therefore, on the “first pass” you will have to bypass all bookmarks and close all suspicious ones. For the future, having identified such pages, do not leave them after viewing - but close them. The sites themselves can be very different - for example, this year I saw that the pages of the GisMeteo site are periodically (and quite often) updated - although the weather does not change so quickly)).
There may also be “forgotten” programs that are automatically loaded when the system boots - most often these are programs for working with torrents (trackers) - for example, muTorrent (uTorrent.exe). Just prevent such programs from starting automatically - while you are in limited traffic conditions.
If the program does not belong to the above and it is not a system one (see list below), then there is reason to be wary. It is very likely that your system is infected with a virus/Trojan - and it quietly does its “dirty deed” without notifying you. “Freeze” such processes and do not “unfreeze” them - and look on the Internet what kind of program it is. If this is a harmless program, then simply disable it for the duration of the “limited exchange”. If, according to information on the Internet, it is a Trojan/virus program, treat your computer.
If the traffic is consumed by a system program, then it is best to enable the firewall in the system - the system one or an external program - and prohibit unnecessary calls. Setting up a furwall is a matter for a separate article, but the Internet is full of all sorts of descriptions of the settings. Use what you understand. A firewall will allow you to more accurately control traffic and allow you to block Internet access to those programs that you do not want to be released into the world.
But, you say, this one is quite complicated for beginners. Is there something that is functionally the same - but as simple as possible? It turns out there is! This is an extremely simple, but at the same time quite powerful Task Manager, which has the ability to “freeze”/“unfreeze” programs - and does not require installation. its size is generally insignificant - the program itself is 38.4k and all the files are about 100k. This size will not “ruin” your traffic package much.
After you launch it (it’s better to put it in startup altogether - it needs very little memory) you can call it using a keyboard shortcut Ctr+Shift+~. We will see a window with a list of running programs - the higher the program, the later it is launched. The most recent one is at the top of the list.
In order to “freeze” a program, click on it and through the context menu (called with the right mouse button) select “Pause/Continue the process”. At the same time, a symbol will appear to the left of this program. To “defrost”, select “Pause/Continue process” again through the context menu. The program “defrosts” and the symbol disappears. Thus, we can quickly “freeze” all suspicious programs and see how the activity of the network/wireless network/modem indicator changes as a result. By the way, clicking on the “cross” to close the program does not terminate its work, but only “hides” its window, which can be called again by Ctr+Shift+~.
Now, using one of these programs, you can find the “source of the leak” and decide what to do with this program/programs.

Application - names of programs and their executable files appearing in the list of TaskManagers:

Browsers:
Internet Explorer - iexplorer.exe
Mozilla FireFox - firefox.exe
Mozilla SeaMonkey - seamonkey.exe
Opera - opera.exe
Google Chrome - chrome.exe
Safari - safari.exe
Maxthon Browser - maxthon.exe

Instant messaging and communication programs:
Skype - skype.exe
ICQ - icq.exe
Qip - qip.exe
Miranda - miranda32.exe
R&Q - rnq.exe

P2P programs (for working with torrents and direct file exchange):
muTorrent - uTorrent.exe
Edonkey - edonkey.exe
Emule - emule.exe

System programs - do not “freeze” them unless necessary - a complete “freezing” of the system is possible!:
System Idle Process
System
smss.exe
winlogon.exe
services.exe
lsass.exe
svchost.exe

The list is given more as an example; only the most famous programs are listed. If you see a program not from this list, look on the Internet what kind of executable file it is.

The article is discussed on the General Forum in this top.
A copy of the article is posted

Hello friends, today over the phone I helped solve a problem for a friend of mine, one might say a regular customer. He called and said that the Internet was very slow, and he had CDMA from Intertelecom and a tariff that gave 1000 MB per day. But that’s not the point, he told me that the Internet works very slowly, almost nothing comes off. Well, I immediately thought that the provider had some problems, anything can happen.

But the last time I set up his computer, I set it so that he wouldn’t overspend the limit, and he told me that the quota had already been used by 21 percent, and was growing, although all browsers were closed and nothing was downloading. Then everything became clear, well, almost everything, some program uses the Internet, and uses it seriously.

All that remains is to find this program and block it, or delete it. Otherwise, this is complete chaos, browsers are closed, and the Internet is being used. According to the client, there were no unnecessary programs on the notification panel, and the automatic one was checked.

To be honest, I didn’t even immediately know how to find out which program or process was secretly using the Internet; I had never encountered this before. But then the ESET NOD32 Smart Security antivirus that I had installed caught my eye. And I thought that it also has a firewall, in which most likely you can see what program or process is loading the Internet connection. Moreover, the client also had ESET NOD32 Smart Security installed.

Having made sure that in the antivirus you can see which program is using Internet traffic, I advised you to do this (if you have the same problem, we’ll do it together :)):

Open ESET NOD32 Smart Security and go to the tab “Utilities”, then select "Network connections".

A list of programs and processes that use the Internet connection on your computer will appear. Opposite the title process/program the current outgoing and incoming speed and how much data has been sent and received from the Internet by a specific program/process will be displayed. Close all browsers and look carefully at this table; you will see a program that quietly uses the Internet right away, because only it will most likely have all the indicators distinguishable from 0 B/s.

The client noticed this harmful program immediately. It turned out that this was some kind of ZONA torrent client program. So it quietly lay in autoload, started up along with the computer, and as soon as the Internet appeared, it continued to download some movies. Mercilessly and quietly, using up the already small limit of 1000 MB. And then 10 kopecks per 1 MB, which is not very cheap, and such programs can eat up all the money from the account.

I advised you to immediately remove the program; if you don’t know how to do this, then read the article. After removing this program, the Internet worked well and was no longer used for unknown reasons.

By the way, you can simply prohibit a specific program or process from using the Internet. Just right-click on the desired program and select “Temporarily disallow network connection for a process”. In order to allow the use of the Internet, simply uncheck the box in the same way.