Alexander Shikhov, 07/12/2018 (10/17/2018)
Sometimes your Android phone's mobile data consumption suddenly increases sharply. Most often this is due to the installation of a new application or the next update of some program. It is important to quickly determine who is to blame for the increase in mobile traffic consumption and eliminate the cause. How to find the program responsible for overusing mobile Internet and curb its appetite - in this article.
How to see mobile traffic consumption
In a modern Android smartphone, all applications, with rare exceptions, require an Internet connection. Therefore, you should not completely turn off the mobile Internet. But you can follow him. To do this, in Settings, find the Connections item.
In the Mobile group, find Data Usage.
A list of applications will be displayed on the screen, indicating the mobile data that was spent by each program during the period.
Analyzing the program's mobile data consumption
The figure below shows the Android system report on the traffic consumed by the VKontakte application (for example).
There are two types of data:
- Foreground. Megabytes spent while working with the program. In the case of VK, these are pictures and videos from the news feed that the user views on the phone screen.
- Background mode. These are the megabytes consumed when the program is minimized. Used to check new messages in VK and other tasks.
Android offers two ways to save traffic in the application:
- Deny him permission to spend data in the background.
- Deny access in special saving mode. This mode is enabled in the system settings. It helps if the volume of megabytes has reached the prepaid limit.
Program developers have provided their own means of saving traffic. For an example, check out our article about.
How not to overpay for mobile Internet
The Android system has a special settings section for determining the mobile Internet limit.
For example, with a paid package of 2 GB per month, you must set a warning for 1.8 GB. And after reaching 2 GB, allow the system to turn off the Internet outside Wi-Fi networks.
These simple tips will allow you to quickly identify the program that consumes mobile Internet more than usual and not overpay for additional megabyte packages to your mobile operator.
In the “PID” section we look at which program is consuming resources.
Also, if you right-click on a process, a set of functions will appear. Process Properties – process properties, End Process – end the process, Copy – copy, Close Connection – close the connection, Whois – what the system advises.
The third method is to use Windows OS components
Click “Start”, “Control Panel”.
For Windows XP. Open the “Security Center”.
Click "Automatic update".
In the new window, check the box next to “Disable” and “OK”.
For Windows 7. Open Windows Update.
Click “Setting parameters”.
Check the “Do not check for updates” checkbox.
Programs and system elements will not access the network. However, to prevent the service from turning back on, we take the following steps (acceptable for Windows XP Windows 7).
In the “Control Panel” go to the “Administration” section.
We are looking for “Security Center” or “Windows Update”. Click “Disable service”.
The fourth method is to control the antivirus program
The New version of Nod 32 has an additional function - traffic control. Launch ESET NOD32 Smart Security 5 or higher. Go to the “Utilities” section and select “Network Connections”.
We close our browsers and look at the list of programs and elements that consume Internet resources. The connection and data transfer speed will also be displayed next to the software name.
In order to restrict a program’s access to the network, right-click on the process and select “Temporarily block network connection for a process.”
The speed of your Internet connection will increase.
An urgent problem for owners of tariffs with a limit on the speed or volume of information (as well as USB modems) or “low-speed Internet”. It seems that there is Internet, but the speed is not enough even to open pages on the Internet. If you are used to it and have come to terms with it, then you can continue to ignore it. But still, I think everyone will be interested in what programs or applications use Internet traffic.
By the way, sometimes in this way you can recognize and see some unfamiliar process or application that you do not know, and this could be a virus or spyware that sends your data (or monitors your actions) and sends it to someone through Internet.
There are several ways to find out what is eating up your Internet traffic.
1)
Via standard . But there is one big drawback - only in Windows 8 it shows on the tab Processes in a collumn Net.
This is not the case in other editions (versions) of Windows. More precisely, there is, but it’s not what you need.
2)
Through various firewalls that provide .
But there is also a catch here - not everyone provides this opportunity, and there are also paid options. Although I use it and am satisfied. By the way, it shows that he uses the Internet too. Like all firewalls in principle.
3)
Through third-party special programs.
I consider this option to be the best and most effective, because it is suitable for all versions of the OS and you do not need to pay, because all programs are free.
The first program that deserved universal recognition is TCPView from .
The positive side is that it does not require installation (portable) and takes up little space (284 kb). The only negative thing about it is that it does not have a Russian-language interface. But figuring it out won’t be too difficult.
After running the file, the main window looks like this:
It immediately displays all programs that use the Internet, with characteristics such as the port used, and others.
In addition, you can save this list to a text file, and also customize the display.
When you right-click on a process, you can find out the process properties (Process Properties), end it (End Process), close the connection (Close Connection), copy (Copy) and find out what the system thinks about it (Whois...) (it didn’t work for me )
The second program is NetWorx
It does everything the same as the previous program, namely it tracks and shows which programs are accessing the Internet. The most important and pleasant difference is that it is Russified and has many functions.
After installation and/or launch, the program is minimized and when you right-click on the icon, the following menu appears:
In fact, the main thing we need is to find out which programs are eating up the Internet. It's on the menu Tools - Connections
In it you can also find out what applications are using and you can end the process by right-clicking on it.
I think the disadvantage is that you cannot find out the properties of the file, and therefore you can only guess what kind of file it is and where it is located.
This is probably why it includes many functions, such as:
- General statistics in which you can find out how much was received/sent per day/week/month or from other users (if there are several accounts).
- Graph of current speed.
- Measure the speed of your Internet connection.
- Set up a limit (quota) for the use of Internet traffic. You determine how much you can spend per hour/day/week/month, and then the program will notify you about the limit.
- You can make traces or ping a route. In simple words - write the IP address or url of the site, and the program determines how long it takes to send/receive a response and request. In general, this is for more advanced users.
Well, that's all. You have figured out the main task, namely how to find out which programs and applications are consuming your Internet connection and know what to do.
Almost every user of the World Wide Web knows the concept of Internet traffic. If speak about mobile operators, then for them, the greater the volume of available traffic, the higher the cost. Most operators have tariffs that do not have traffic restrictions, but their cost is significantly higher than that of analogues with restrictions.
Internet for personal computers, which is provided by providers, is most often estimated based on Internet speed.
There are billions of computers on the World Wide Web. Some call them servers - some information is stored on them, others connect to these servers to receive this information. From this we conclude that computers exchange information with each other.
Data received from other computers is incoming traffic, and the data sent by your PC is outgoing. This category includes messages on VK, audio recordings you have downloaded, videos and much more. The unit of measurement is gigabyte, megabyte or kilobyte.
Many providers have a so-called “Grid” - this is a place on the network or Internet, organized by the service provider, where users can download movies, music and exchange other information, but at the same time fee per consumable There is no traffic charge. Only users of that particular provider have access to the Grid.
It often happens that one computer starts sending data to another without the knowledge of the PC owner. This happens when the computer is infected virus. In this case, outgoing traffic is significantly increases. To avoid such unpleasant situations, you need to use antiviruses that monitor any malicious software and neutralize it, preventing information leakage.
How to find out spent traffic
There are several ways to find out the amount of traffic consumed. Let's start with the simplest method.
We use standard functionality
It gives us the opportunity to find out how much information was received and consumed during the current Internet sessions.
On the taskbar, find the icon that displays your active Internet connection. 
By clicking on it you will see list possible connections, you need to select yours. 
Click on it right click.
A window will appear that will display information about the duration of the connection, Internet speed, sent and received packets (this is traffic). 
When you turn off your computer and the connection is lost, the data will be reset to zero.
If you use several accounts on your computer, then you can find out the same data on them. You will need to do the same manipulations.
Third party software
You can use special software to determine outgoing and incoming traffic. The choice here is huge. We settled on the Networx program.
A very simple, informative, intuitive program.
After installation, it will always be on your taskbar. You can contact it at any time and get all the necessary data. 
When you hover your mouse over the icon, the program will show you current internet speed.
If you click on it right click, then a window will pop up. 
Clicking the button statistics, you will receive traffic data both current and for the day, week, month, year, you can view hourly report.
Traffic on mobile devices
On mobile devices, traffic is consumed much more more economical. This is ensured through mobile versions of sites, which are optimized specifically for the convenience of users accessing the Internet from gadgets.
The simplest solution to the issue is to install the application. Each provider has developed software for smartphones that reflects the full traffic statistics.
You can also find out the short number (it varies among operators). By sending an SMS to it, you will receive traffic information in response.
Greetings, dear readers! Most likely, you have worked for some time in Windows 10 on a computer, tablet or laptop, have become a little accustomed to the new product from Microsoft, and have downloaded many important and useful programs from the Internet. Or not very useful. And one day the thought might strike you: how much traffic did I download this month? Interesting? So I became interested. And now I will show you where to find information on Internet use over the last 30 days.
Let's go in Start -> Options -> Network and Internet. You can quickly open Settings using Win + I.
In chapter Network and Internet on the tab data usage you can see general information on all your network interfaces for which the system has accumulated statistics. In this case, I only see Ethernet (regular dedicated cable). On tablets and laptops, this section will display Wi-Fi statistics.
So, you saw the numbers of gigabytes downloaded, your eyes widened and you wanted to immediately find out the details. What applications on your device consumed how much traffic you can find out if you click on the link Usage Information.
After clicking on the link, you will be shown more detailed information. You can clearly see which applications consumed how much internet. At this point, the detailing of the data ends, that is, you cannot find out the specific addresses of sites, which files were downloaded.
But that is not all! Information on downloaded gigabytes of invaluable traffic can be displayed in the form of a live tile on the Windows 10 start screen. To do this, right-click on the section name data usage and click on the item Pin to Start Screen.
A confirmation message will pop up, click Yes.
The tile will appear on the Start screen. If its size does not seem large enough to you, then right-click on the tile and select Resize -> Wide, as shown in the screenshot.
Well, it has become noticeably more convenient, hasn’t it? Now you can always quickly estimate the amount of downloaded data by simply opening the Start menu and glancing at the tile.
