Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

too much downloading

Jan 21, 2009 10:05AM PST

my family has a broadband system, and we have five computers running from it. our internet usage is going way higher than we are using and we can't work out why.

is there anything (automatic updates, advertisements on "text-only" pages etc.) that might be downloading without us realising?

we have 4 xps and 1 vista, home premium.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Someone keeping track?
Jan 21, 2009 10:15AM PST

if that's the case then they should have a record of it.

- Collapse -
they?
Jan 22, 2009 4:07PM PST

sorry, i'm not very familiar with computers.

do you mean the computer should have a record, or the people using it?

if it's the people, they won't they don't have a clue what's going on on their computers.

- Collapse -
How do you know the usage is going up?
Jan 23, 2009 11:52AM PST

Somebody is keeping track, right?

and why do you worry about it anyway, is the ISP charging you more or are you worrying about hitting the usage limit?

- Collapse -
usage limit
Jan 26, 2009 4:00PM PST

we're on a flat rate so that's okay, but if we use too much it goes to dial-up speed so yeah, it's hitting the usage limit is the problem.

- Collapse -
I think there are software that can monitor the usage...
Jan 27, 2009 2:26AM PST

of computers, but you probably don't want to go there, hehe. Why not just ask everyone to cut down on there download or streaming.