What has been eating at my bandwidth?

Question

Lately, my family has been getting crazy bandwidth. We haven't been downloading anything at all, and yet we exceeded our 100GB cap. We were exceeding ~3.3GB everyday!
We contacted the ISP, but they blamed it on us. Our family has been streaming videos a lot (but mostly from an iPad and my mother's PC, not mine). But we did an experiment (where my computer was turned off for a day), and we found that on that day, only ~600MB was used!
Surprised, I downloaded a bandwidth meter (ShaPlus), and it indicated that I was wasting 200-300MB in 30 minutes! And this wasn't even streaming videos, just surfing. I thought it may have been my Hamachi, so I uninstalled that. Fearing malware, I actually reset my PC to factory conditions.
I only had a few simple programs (Avast, Chrome, uTorrent w/o any torrents, and DU Meter to measure bandwidth). On the first day it was fine, only around 200MB. But on the next day, I burnt through 300MB in 30 minutes!
I don't know what it is that is messing with the bandwidth. Is it Chrome? Avast? Are the meters lying? Is the ISP (infamous Rogers) messing something up? Am I just being paranoid?
Please Help

Answer 1

I recently had terrible problems streaming youtub and TV catchup ect on Chrome, then discovered I didn't have a problem with IE/Firefox....problem has since gone away, I never found a cause.

Answer 2

The one thing that slows you down probably the most is the upload. When data is coming at you 6 or 12 megabits per second and also you try to ram whatever back at the server at .6 megabits per 2nd, its a large number and a log jam. Its like taking pictures whip cream out of a can and seeking to put some again in whilst its popping out. The whole lot makes use of bandwidth, video, graphics, voip, webcam. In case you down load quite often movies, then you definitely use quite a lot of bandwidht for that. I assume its all relative, what ever you do the most of is what eats up the bandwidth.

Answer 3

Well if you want a good and accurate bandwidth meter, id recommend this one http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/



See if that changes the results being displayed (this will show ONLY the bandwidth your computer is using, not all the ones on your network).





If utorrent is running, it will be using bandwidth, since its constantly updating nodes, but it doesnt really use "that" much, it would be like a few MB a day.



Avast will use bandwidth, since it will be getting updates every so often, and its constantly scanning things and uploading/downloading from the avast server, but again its not "that" much, again its only like a few MB a day.



chrome, shouldnt really much using much if any, unless you are actually browsing the net with it (except searching for updates, but that should be next to no bandwidth, and if you download an update, its not likely to be that much either).



Also windows itself will usually be sending/receiving data from windows updates and other windows services. But that shouldn't be using that much either.



Browsing the web will ofcourse use bandwidth. The amount of data varies on the page. Pages with more pictures and videos will use more. Watching any videos uses alot.





One thing to ask, is are you completely sure your windows installation is legit? If you are using a pirated/cracked copy of windows, it could be the culprit. The person who cracked it, could have embedded spyware into the OS itself, so no scanners would pick it up.



(just because your computer "came" with it, doesnt mean its legit. as lots of times when you buy used computers, they will often come with pirated OS. or if you received it used from someone else as a gift or w/e.)

Its hard to tell if its legit or not, but the best way is to

-Look for a sticker on the computer (bottom of laptops, or side/bottom of desktops), it will tell you which version of windows your computer should have on it, and also say the license key on it. if it doesnt match yours (like if it says XP and you have win7 ultimate, then obviously >.>)

-get a 100% clean copy of a windows iso/disc, install it, and try using the license on the sticker. If it doesnt work, its not legit.

Answer 4

browsing youtube can use about 5 gb per day, use 360 or lower only.



make sure utorrent isn't sending communications, as it does it even when not downloading or seeding.

Answer 5

What have you done to check on your Router. Sounds like someone is using your router to access the internet and draining your bandwidth. Check your router to see who is getting access to it.