If you also use an internet connection with traffic limits at home, here's what you can do to decrease your data and avoid costly charges
Not everyone at home has an internet connection with unlimited plans. There are subscription formulas that provide a maximum threshold of data to be used in a month. In these cases you need to be careful, trying to reduce the consumption of gigabytes as much as possible.
Although it may seem difficult, reducing data traffic is really very simple. Before moving on to talk about how to put into practice a series of tricks necessary to save data and even our wallet, it is useful to make a small premise. In most cases internet traffic is drained by programs and applications that are not useful at a given time. Let's take, for example, software that runs in the background. Even when not in use it takes up bandwidth. So, not only do they slow down the connection, but they consume data. How to save gigabytes of your subscription?
Windows tool
Let's start with a tool inside Windows 10, which if activated allows you to save quite a bit of data traffic. It's a tool that works by limiting the updates of apps and other programs, among which there are also OS updates. Activating it is very simple.
Press the "Windows" button (the one at the bottom left with the operating system logo) plus the letter I. The settings will open. Here choose "Network and Internet" and then "Wi-Fi". At this point you'll have to select the "Manage known connections" item: you'll see another tab, showing all your connections. Now click on the network you are using and then on "Properties". Finally, activate "Connection on consumption" and you're done.
NetBalancer
But the Windows tool is obviously not the only one. Another very useful program to reduce data consumption is NetBalancer, although in truth it is not free, but only offers a 15-day trial period. Let's see how it works. NetBalancer lets you view all the processes connected to the network, for each of which the program also reports the bandwidth occupied. With the software you can set priorities, that is, allow one process to use the network bandwidth before the other, as well as you can also limit the data consumption for each selected program by setting a maximum threshold.
NetLimiter
A program similar to NetBalancer is NetLimiter. The software basically works almost the same way: it allows you to view all processes that occupy network bandwidth, while also providing numbers on the amount of bytes consumed. The program allows you to set a limit of 5 kilobytes per second (KB/s) for both downloads and uploads. You can also customize - increasing or decreasing - these parameters.
Net-Peeker
An alternative tool that is very easy to use is Net-Peeker. Also with this program you can view all applications and software connected to the network. For each process Net-Peeker reports its consumption. Net-Peeker, which is free for 30 days only, allows you, like the other tools, to customize the amount of bandwidth occupied by each process, as well as you can also close a particular program that is consuming a lot of data.
SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager
SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager is a program that, compared to the previous ones, is more complicated to use. Graphically speaking, then, it has an essential design. In addition, the program requires your IP address and the connection password. Having said that, SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager is, however, a useful alternative to keep your network bandwidth consumption under control.