[Question] Network Monitoring Program

[AmithS]

Hello Everyone,

Over the last few days I see my internet connection downloading a lot of data while I am not doing anything.

I made sure my firewall is set to block everything just in case and still its doing this!

Is there a program I can use to check what is using this data?

Thanks,

[Mark Atkinson]

Hi Amith,

You can try Netlimiter.

[AndyD]

I'd start in msconfig and see what's running in the background. Do a full anti-virus/malware scan as well for good measure.

[AmithS]

Thanks for the replies, I will have a look at net limiter and msconfig.

I ran a full virus scan with latest updates etc... and all comes out clean.

I actually think its google chrome that is updating every time I use the browser. I was monitoring the version number and it seems to be changing every time I have those spikes in data use.

The thing is I cannot find an option in the chrome browser to disable updates! - Anyone know how to do so?

Thanks

[AndyD]

Do what I do for all applications that want to check for updates every ten minutes, exclude it from internet access in your firewall

only joking

[adrianh]

@Mark

I installed Netlimiter 3.0 Pro but it sure is a "technical" program. If I start up Explorer I can see it talking to the router. I then go to my website in explorer. Explorer now doesn't show any activity but I do see the activity in my anti-virus under my websites IP address. Whois shows me the URL of my ISP. Traceroute also shows the route to the ISP.

Now this is all very interesting but I can't see the actual endpoint - so if a website spawns various endpoints how am I going to see who they are?

[Sparks]

What OS you using & what internet connection you using? Dongle connections have extra programs running & Win 7 Task manager has Resource Monitor feature to look up things that are running in the background.

[adrianh]

I'm running XP. Yes, you can use resource monitor to see which apps are running in the backround but the question is which one is eating up the internet bandwidth. Once you know which one it is then how do you block it. There is another tool one could use to see what is going on and it is called TCPView. You'll be surprised to see how many connections are actually opened by visiting some websites. Anyway, yes, you could block the apps directly from their option settings, or from the firewall or from the anti-virus once you know which program is causing the problem. Netlimiter shows you exactly who the bugger is and how much bandwidth it is using up. The point I was making about Netlimiter is that you have to know your way around the internal workings fairly well to work out that internet comms might be routing through antivirus and that you see the communication taking place in the anti-virus and not in the offending app. You also need to be aware of the fact that resolving the offending IP address using whois is not straight forward.

....Nothing is ever simple!

[ghostwriter]

Perhaps you may find this webpage helpful How do I find out what programs are accessing my internet connection?

[Sparks]

With resource monitor you can identify the process networking and stop it. Once identified you can google the process name to find out what is is before stopping it just in case it is vital. When I was using CellC I discovered something that was forever sending & receiving and after deleting it my speed was better and my bandwidth went further. A fresh backup or restore point before deleting a process is a good idea.