20GB. My Internet Is Limited, How Do I Control Things That Download In The Background

[icanhascpu2]

I've been using Networx for over a year and its been great for generally seeing how much net ive used in a given period of time.

I also use NetLimiter 3, and this helps me limit/stop connections that are downloading too much.

My problem is, no matter how much blocking I do its getting really tiring stopping certain things from downloading (they will open a new connection and continue). Ive tried firewalls and whatnot and it just isnt really giving me much control.

Is there some sort of utility I can use where it lets me see what on my system EXACTLY what application is downloading and enable me to tell whatever it is to kindly fuck off?

 

[Ketchup]

Probably the best thing you can do is to run msconfig, go to the Startup tab, and get rid of all the items that are running in the background for the sole purpose of updating: Adobe (and all of its associated apps), Java, Divx, etc.)

 

[MrColin]

Windows Firewall you have it already, set it to ask before allowing either outbound or inbound connections.

Also, a hosts file with the thousands of known ad servers pointed to 0.0.0.0 should help too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Look into setting up pfsense, it has graphs and stuff, and you can also limit stuff better. The first step is knowing what's going on, and it will do a good job at that. I'd also block all outgoing ports except for ones you need.

The best thing is it will work for the entire network not just one machine.

Ex of a graph:

 

[nboy22]

Where do you live and what service do you have that you only get 20 gb a month? Just interested to see if it's satellite or something.

 

[icanhascpu2]

Windows Firewall you have it already, set it to ask before allowing either outbound or inbound connections.

Also, a hosts file with the thousands of known ad servers pointed to 0.0.0.0 should help too.

Got a link to a good host file?
How would I go about setting windows firewall to learning mode? Im in win7

Look into setting up pfsense, it has graphs and stuff, and you can also limit stuff better. The first step is knowing what's going on, and it will do a good job at that. I'd also block all outgoing ports except for ones you need.

The best thing is it will work for the entire network not just one machine.

Ex of a graph:

Nice, looks a lot like what I have already though, netlimiter+Networx

Where do you live and what service do you have that you only get 20 gb a month? Just interested to see if it's satellite or something.

3G in rural area. fuck satellite

 

[MrColin]

Got a link to a good host file?

I combine these two and remove the duplicates, making sure to replace (using either excel or bash commands) 127.0.0.1 -> 0.0.0.0:
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts_zero/
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

How would I go about setting windows firewall to learning mode? Im in win7

Its not really learning mode per se, just block everything under firewall>properties and make sure its set to "notify me when wf blocks a new program." A third party fw might work better for this.

Another suggestion is to increase the cache size/behavior etc in your browsers and other apps, or even set up a local caching proxy server.

 

[icanhascpu2]

I combine these two and remove the duplicates, making sure to replace (using either excel or bash commands) 127.0.0.1 -> 0.0.0.0:
http://someonewhocares.org/hosts_zero/
http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm


Its not really learning mode per se, just block everything under firewall>properties and make sure its set to "notify me when wf blocks a new program." A third party fw might work better for this.

Another suggestion is to increase the cache size/behavior etc in your browsers and other apps, or even set up a local caching proxy server.

Thanks I will combine those host in notepad++ if i can.
Back when I was limited to dialup I played around a bit with caching, mainly images, locally, as it seems browsers/other refresh media content that does not need to be WAY too often. i forget what I did now, but back then it was mainly for speed reasons. Is there a relatively easy way to do that now?

Edit: Looking more into local caching proxy servers. Most Ive found are for remote server solutions. I havent found really anything for setting something up locally. New at this method so not really sure what to look for..
Edit: Looks like I may need a spare computer. Looking at some Squid videos and such? Am I on the right track here? i wonder if a old Dell 8200 can handle this + lite Minecraft serving.

 

[icanhascpu2]

Well i feel dumb.

I found the Windowsfirewall "Allowed programs" window for the first time. This is teh first time Ive seen it. I dont know how I could have missed it. This is exactly what I wanted, thanks dudes. Hopefully with this I can disable applicationsas they try and access places like akami and tell them: NO.

 

[Ken g6]

Back when I was limited to dialup I played around a bit with caching, mainly images, locally, as it seems browsers/other refresh media content that does not need to be WAY too often. i forget what I did now, but back then it was mainly for speed reasons. Is there a relatively easy way to do that now?

I use a caching proxy called Polipo. Setup on Windows can be a bit difficult - you have to set up a caching directory path manually, I think. It's also best compiled from source, and it can be a bit crashy so I put it in a loop in a batch file to restart it - but you can restart it manually instead. And I'm not always sure how much caching it does - sometimes it doesn't seem to do any but many server-side settings can prevent caching.

I gather some people prefer a proxy called "Squid", but it appears to be far more complicated.

 

[icanhascpu2]

Yeah been looking into Squid3. It might be what Ill try. Problem is i use ICS to share internet to one other computer plus a wifi to allow all the wireless devices access. This is all from the internet plugged into my computer coming from a USB 3G drive.

So my setup is a little uncommon. Cached proxy sounds amazing enough to at least try though. I'll see if I can first get *something* to work though a VMware with Ubuntu 12.04+Squid, then maybe move to real hardware if I feel lucky..

 

[icanhascpu2]

So somewhow though black magic I:

-> setup ubuntu, installed squid, installed the 3G Wireless USB card, yelled at ubuntu to stop setting the eth0 to default connection (cant disable it, need it on), somehow finally got the wireless connection to set as default so internet would access though it, finally bloody got squid to allow me to load a damn page in the host OS (windows 7)

so broswers work on this computer.

Next problems:
1. Figuring out how to config squid/applications other than browsers to get access (Skype, AIM, Games, etc)
2. How the hell do share this connection over a crossover cable to the computer in the living-room? Buying my way out of the problem is not an option (unless its less than $10 shipped)