Need help figuring out data usage problem
So this image is my data usage per Cox.
I’ve tried checking through all my devices on my wifi and every one on the list I can account for. I can account for the two large days early in the month when I had to download a game and then re-download it to try to fix it. around the 12th or 13th I did a bunch of stuff to try to fix my computer including flashing my bios and downloading some new drivers including driverscloud’s utility, GPUZ and CPUZ. That time frame seems to align with the increase in usage. I’ve uninstalled those programs as of yesterday but yesterday was also a huge usage day…
Here’s the real kicker. We were out of town for 4 days around christmas but the usage is just as high if not higher than the average. My router Netgear Nighthawk Mesh, doesn’t let me really drill down into usage stats. Is there something I can install to check what program is using all this data, or what device on the network at least? Any help is appreciated.
Do you have any smart home devices? Try disabling those one by one each day to see which one it is to make a difference.
Do you use Twitch at all and have the setting on high quality?
If you’re at home, you can look at Settings > Network & internet > Advanced network settings > Data usage. That should give you a breakdown of what you’re using and when within the last 30 days, 7 days, and 24 hours. Hopefully, that can help you suss out what’s going on a little.
EDIT: This assumes you’re on a recent Windows version.
Wow. Thank you. I have a program called “extensionhelperapp” that has used 870 GB in the last 30 days.
Did you find out what that is?
Do you use a VPN (Tuxler VPN maybe?) This might just be all your traffic through a device using that.
I think so. It seems to be related to Tuxler VPN that I tried one time and apparently when you use that service you agree to sign your IP up to a pool where others using it can use that. I clearly need to only use legit VPNs in the future. So I’m trying to completely scrub my computer of that program/extension and we’ll see.
I may have tried it. I don’t see it in my extensions on chrome but it’s in my add/remove programs as Tuxler extension helper app. So i’ve uninstalled that and searching the entire pc for anything related to tuxler to remove.
Yep. I uninstalled everything related to that and usage dropped from 45 GB on the 1st to 3 GB on the 2nd.
Yeah, that’s malware.
Yea don’t be surprised when you start getting DMCA notices for illegally downloaded movies and tv shows, or if the FBI shows up looking for the PC that was used to view kiddie porn. You opened yourself up to a whole host of issues by allowing that shit on your network. Use this as a massive learning experience. NOTHING IS FREE.
Nice, to be clear I don’t think it’s using all that, it’s just a duplicate recording of all the traffic from your other apps feeding through it. Could be wrong though.
So I was able to uninstall everything midway through January 1st. My usage on the 1st was 45 GB. My usage on the 2nd was 3 GB. I think it’s actually been solved!
I’m pretty sure most of the usage was due to the way Tuxler works. after doing some more research apparently you agree to be part of their network when you install it so my IP was being used for the VPN apparently. Which sucks but I’m glad I figured it out. The part that makes it obvious was the 40+ GB per day while I was out of town and my computer asleep.