Windows 10: Microsoft is eating all of my bandwidth

I have limited (3Mbps) bandwidth and most of the time my PC is asleep. And when I go to use it I can wait 10 to 20 minutes for it to download who-knows-what. So it's unusable for anything over the internet during that time.

I have Windows 10 Professional and have used the Group Policy Editor to allow me to control when I get updates. Specifically I've set it set to notify me for download and install.

But despite having set that, the IP addresses I can see in Resource Manager come up as downloads from MS. So I presume it's Windows Updates happening regardless. Does anyone have any ideas what's going on?







:)

 

"Service Host", eating my internet.

It is eating all of my internet bandwidth. Nothing is on, checked. No Windows Updates are downloading, no Store updates. Then what is eating it exactly? Here's the shot:

 

Svchost.exe have been consuming data on Windows 10.

Original Title: Svchost.exe have been eating my bandwidth ? downloading ?

Svchost.exe have been eating my bandwidth ? Its been 5 hours and 868MB until now. Is this normal windows update ? I am on Windows 10 Build 14393.10. I just updated to Anniversary update.

 

Hi, assuming for a moment that's not due to Windows system updates then it might be due to
a. Regular universal app updates (by default, a scan is done 4 hourly)
b. Background app data updates (which you can control in Settings)

This free MS tool should give you more information:




Besides that, you can try a clean boot for comparison- should one of your startups happen to be responsible, if you don't then experience the problem, you can proceed to identify which it is.

 

Thanks I'll try that. Process Explorer doesn't seem to have columns for network traffic.

I have been through startup options and even looked for services which might be suspect. And of course it's MS IP addresses. I have no App store apps installed since new.

One thing I've noticed sometimes too is that when I respond to the notification of it being ready it doesn't seem to need to download it.. Which is why I'm suspicious it's just damned getting it anyway. I thought I'd cracked it when I set updates to not download, but that didn't seem to make any difference. It's as if it still downloads them.

 

Windows auto-downloads some store apps, so the user can choose to use them. *Rolleyes

Here are a few things, you might want to disable, run CMD as admin and copy/paste:

Auto-downloading of store apps.
Code: reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v "DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v "ContentDeliveryAllowed" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v "OemPreInstalledAppsEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v "PreInstalledAppsEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v "PreInstalledAppsEverEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v "SilentInstalledAppsEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager" /v "SubscribedContentEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg delete "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager\SuggestedApps" /f[/quote]
Windows Store Automatic App Updates
Code: schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Automatic App Update" /Disable reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsStore\WindowsUpdate" /v "AutoDownload" /t REG_DWORD /d "2" /f[/quote]
Sharing Windows updates
Code: reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DeliveryOptimization\Config" /v "DODownloadMode" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f[/quote]
Malicious Software Removal Tool offered via Windows Updates (MRT)
Code: reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MRT" /v DontOfferThroughWUAU /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f[/quote]
Driver updates in Windows Update
Code: reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v "ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching" /v "SearchOrderConfig" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Device Metadata" /v "PreventDeviceMetadataFromNetwork" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\Device Setup\Metadata Refresh" /Disable[/quote]
Windows Updates, you have to check manually, but it might disable Defender updates as well.
Code: schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan" /Disable ren "%WinDir%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan" "Schedule Scan.bak" md "%WinDir%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan" schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\UpdateOrchestrator\Schedule Scan" /Disable schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start" /Disable ren "%WinDir%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start" "Scheduled Start.bak" md "%WinDir%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start" schtasks /Change /TN "Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\Scheduled Start" /Disable[/quote]

 

1. Process explorer lets you see what's going on in the process tree for a given instance of svchost.exe. If it's downloading, there'll be other activity to help you identify the relevant process.

2. The 'standard' apps are frequently updated whether or not you use them. There's a scheduled task to do that- which you could try disabling.

And there's the background data.




Update sharing (mentioned by TarikuOkami):




& driver updates:
Enable or Disable Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Windows Update Activation Tutorials

Defender: If you disable Windows updates, you disable Defender updates. You can establish your own scheduled task for that if you need to.

You could also try setting your connection to metered - at least for test purposes. (That disables updates- Windows updates at least. Not seen a comment about the various others).
Note this option for driver updates:

 

Wow - thanks. I wasn't aware of the background apps. WTF.. So many apps I and most people never need. Thanks for that - even if it doesn't make a difference. *Smile

I have an issue changing settings on the router over wifi so I can't do the metered connection because I use ethernet. But I might test it and see.

 

Thanks - I've gone with the first 2 I quoted and we'll see if that helps. I had disabled driver updates (everything is working so I don't want it messed with) and sharing updates.

 

You can also set ethernet connections as metered. See the relevant tutorial in the - you guessed- Tutorial section.