Question Weird WIFI data usage

[Szeska837]

Hi,

I have a Win 10 laptop and I checked my WIFI data usage from the last 30 days and it showed over 500GB of data, which I thought was way too high. Checked the individual app data usage and it's closer to around 180 GB of data, around 90% is from my browser (I watch a lot of videos).

At first I thought it shows the whole network's data usage, like the additional devices, but those devices show relatively normal data usage (the other laptop shows 90GB data usage vs. my over 500GB).

Checked the router's interface and no unknown devices were found (I only allow devices whitelisted by MAC address) and my Antivirus also shows no new/unknown devices in the last 30 days. Also, no malware was found.

I was thinking about my Antivirus (it's basically always connected to the internet) and/or Windows Update, because they don't show up in the apps section of data usage, but I highly doubt they'd use that much data.

Any ideas what could be the cause?

 

[kanewolf]

Hi,

I have a Win 10 laptop and I checked my WIFI data usage from the last 30 days and it showed over 500GB of data, which I thought was way too high. Checked the individual app data usage and it's closer to around 180 GB of data, around 90% is from my browser (I watch a lot of videos).

At first I thought it shows the whole network's data usage, like the additional devices, but those devices show relatively normal data usage (the other laptop shows 90GB data usage vs. my over 500GB).

Checked the router's interface and no unknown devices were found (I only allow devices whitelisted by MAC address) and my Antivirus also shows no new/unknown devices in the last 30 days. Also, no malware was found.

I was thinking about my Antivirus (it's basically always connected to the internet) and/or Windows Update, because they don't show up in the apps section of data usage, but I highly doubt they'd use that much data.

Any ideas what could be the cause?

What are you using to determine these numbers ?

 

[Szeska837]

What are you using to determine these numbers ?

The built in tool in Start Menu -> Settings -> Network & Internet -> Data Usage

 

[kanewolf]

The built in tool in Start Menu -> Settings -> Network & Internet -> Data Usage

I guess I would start by resetting the statistics on that page. Then check it after 10 days. See if it is consistent.

Looking at my data, the one thing that stands out is that LAN data usage (to another host on the LAN) and WAN data usage is both included in the statistics.
My largest user is my backup software which copies to my NAS.

 

[Szeska837]

Sorry for the late reply!

I did reset the statistics and while the overall usage is way smaller, it still doesn't match. From around 7 GB data usage only around 3 GB is shown in the statistics screen.

I don't use a backup software, my backups are offline on external hard drives.

So it's still weird, no idea what it could be. Maybe the statistics screen is missing something?

 

[kanewolf]

Sorry for the late reply!

I did reset the statistics and while the overall usage is way smaller, it still doesn't match. From around 7 GB data usage only around 3 GB is shown in the statistics screen.

I don't use a backup software, my backups are offline on external hard drives.

So it's still weird, no idea what it could be. Maybe the statistics screen is missing something?

Do you cast to a screen wirelessly ?

 

[Szeska837]

Do you cast to a screen wirelessly ?

Sometimes, but not in the last 10+ days

 

[kanewolf]

Sometimes, but not in the last 10+ days

Think about any other LAN related usage. Mount a remote disk? Print to a network printer a lot ?

 

[Szeska837]

Think about any other LAN related usage. Mount a remote disk? Print to a network printer a lot ?

I don't use any of those.
I'll do another test for a couple days and let you know the results.

 

[COLGeek]

Have you scanned your system for malware?

 

[Ralston18]

Curious about:

"I don't use a backup software, my backups are offline on external hard drives."

But data is still transferred - correct?

And why would those transfers not be tallied by whatever is doing the counting.....?

What am I missing.?