BandwidthBar

Bandwidth has become an important commodity for businesses and individuals. In South Africa, where bandwidth often comes at a premium price, it is very important to identify and rectify problems that waste your bandwidth. As anyone with a hard data cap can tell you, there are few things as frustrating as discovering your bandwidth has been used up without you even being aware of it. The following are some of the more common ways your bandwidth may be being used.

 

Spyware, adware and viruses are prime culprits when it comes to bandwidth wastage. Malicious programmes and code on your computer gather information from your computer and your surfing habits and sends this information back to the companies that created them. This continuous stream of data can quickly use up what little bandwidth you have. Some of these programmes also download more spyware and adware further using up your bandwidth.

 

It is important that you regularly check your system for these spyware and adware programs to keep your bandwidth safe.

 

Torrents and peer-to-peer software are also bandwidth hogs. Most people don’t realise it but in South Africa our bandwidth is not just limited to downloads, but includes uploads as well. This means that when you have a torrent or p2p programme open the people downloading the data from your computer is using your bandwidth! Never keep these programmes open for long periods of time when you are not downloading and limit the amount of data that can be downloaded from your computer to conserve bandwidth.

 

Another culprit of bandwidth theft is automatic updating. Anti-virus programmes, operating systems, games and every other programme on your computer likes to stay up to date and if you are connected to the Internet 24/7 then these programmes will check for updates every now and then and download the updates to boot – unless you tell them not to. Always ensure that you have full control over the updates of all the programmes on your computer. There is usually a setting or option somewhere that allows you to turn automatic updates on and off.

 

Even with these three culprits under scrutiny you may still find that your bandwidth is disappearing. Download a bandwidth monitor – available free from many sources on the Internet – to keep an eye on where and what your bandwidth is being used on. Not only will a bandwidth monitor help you keep an eye on your bandwidth expenditure, it will also alert you to the presence of adware or spyware before they can cause too much trouble.

 

Bandwidth wastage can get expensive. Make sure that you conserve your bandwidth. It will save you time and aggravation.

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