How can I find out what is using all of my upload bandwidth?


Recommended Posts

Something is randomly using all of my upload bandwidth, which makes my connection crawl.

I do not have spyware, adware or a virus.

How can I find out what process is doing this?

EDIT: This only started happening after I installed NetBalancer. However, it was uninstalled hours ago and I have rebooted, so I'm unsure how it can even be related.

Windows 7 x64 SP1.

EDIT: I rang Sky Broadband, they said it was an issue at the local hub and that it will be fixed within 30 minutes. I read a book for an hour, came back and the connection is now all good. Sorry, guys! Just seemed a massive co-incidence.

Look at the Task manager -- ctrl-alt-delete.

What processes are running ?

Also it may be a rootkit, and something has made your PC a zombie.

Do a rootkit scan.

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-rootkit.aspx

  On 24/07/2011 at 13:14, Hum said:

Look at the Task manager -- ctrl-alt-delete.

What processes are running ?

Also it may be a rootkit, and something has made your PC a zombie.

Do a rootkit scan.

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-rootkit.aspx

I have no rootkits. Only novices get rootkits, spyware, adware or virus'.

This only started happening after I installed NetBalancer. However, it was uninstalled hours ago and I have rebooted, so I'm unsure how it can even be related.

Maybe I should call Sky Broadband, it could be an issue on their end (i.e. a co-incidence).

  Quote
I have no rootkits. Only novices get rootkits, spyware, adware or virus'.

Well, you claim not to be a novice but can't even track your usage?

Check for rootkits and drop the superiority complex. If you can't rule it out (and opinion rules nothing out) then it still exists.

  • Like 2
  On 24/07/2011 at 13:24, njlouch said:

Well, you claim not to be a novice but can't even track your usage?

Check for rootkits and drop the attitude.

There is no attitude. It's very true. Just because I find it very easy to avoid getting rootkits, spyware, adware or viruses, it doesn't mean I know what software you guys recommend to discover what processes are using my bandwidth. I know that NetLimter can tell me what processes are using my bandwidth but in case that program is calling this issue, I am of course reluctant to re-install it.

The reason I know it's not a rootkit is because I doubt very much it's a co-incidence that NetLimiter was installed/uninstalled an hour before this issue occurred.

For ****s and giggles, I'll run Sophos Anti-Rootkit.

  On 24/07/2011 at 13:29, Detection said:

I think the clue is in the name "NetLimter "

Sounds like it has left something behind after the uninstall

That is not logical. The program was used to stop Firefox using all of my 130 KB/s upload bandwidth. I used it to limit Firefox to using a maximum of 95 KB/s in upload bandwidth. I then uninstalled it as, even though it worked, I decided just to go ahead and let Firefox do what it wishes.

So why would that program, installed or not, be doing this to my connection...?

EDIT: Sophos Anti-Rootkit found nothing suspicious. As expected.

As it is designed to limit bandwidth, your issue is bandwidth related, and it started around the time you installed and uninstalled this program I would say its more likely to be that than a coincidence.

I vaguely remember installing something similar if not the same program a while ago and completely losing my connection, programs like this install drivers I think, check hidden items in the device manager / services running in services.msc etc

If it all fails, as posted above, system restore to before the issue

  On 24/07/2011 at 13:36, Detection said:

As it is designed to limit bandwidth, your issue is bandwidth related, and it started around the time you installed and uninstalled this program I would say its more likely to be that than a coincidence.

I vaguely remember installing something similar if not the same program a while ago and completely losing my connection, programs like this install drivers I think, check hidden items in the device manager / services running in services.msc etc

If it all fails, as posted above, system restore to before the issue

It does install a service but from what I can tell, there appears to be no related services on my computer :/

  On 24/07/2011 at 13:36, _DP said:

Do you get the same issue with other browsers?

This is happening system-wide. For example, I can be playing a game fine then a few seconds later, I get 900 ping before getting kicked. It's then that I realize something was uploading using all of my 130 KB/s upload speed. I am using Rainmeter to find my current system down/up speeds.

If your looking to track what process is using upload, you could run tcpview http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897437

You could run wireshark as well - great FREE protocol analyzer http://www.wireshark.org/ to see what is actually being put on the wire, etc. but what show you what process did it, just what is being done.

Or you could put netlimiter back on ;) It shows you what is using bandwidth heeheheh

I rang Sky Broadband, they said it was an issue at the local hub and that it will be fixed within 30 minutes. I read a book for an hour, came back and the connection is now all good. Sorry, guys! Just seemed a massive co-incidence.

I wasn't trying to be douchey earlier when I said it's not difficult to avoid getting rootkits, spyware, adware or viruses, it just really is easy to avoid them in my opinion :s Stick to legitimate websites, check comments when downloading torrents, keep your Windows and MSE up-to-date, don't start using dodgy Facebook apps etc. and you will be fine!

"all of my 130 KB/s upload speed. I am using Rainmeter to find my current system down/up speeds. "

Um how is your box uploading an issue at the local hub?

  On 24/07/2011 at 13:45, BudMan said:

"all of my 130 KB/s upload speed. I am using Rainmeter to find my current system down/up speeds. "

Um how is your box uploading an issue at the local hub?

I am not sure. The ping issues were due to an problem at the local LLU according to Sky Broadband and when they said it would be fixed in about 30 minutes, they were right!

Sounds like a common sense solution.. the program you installed which was "NetBalancer" has screwed with Winsock... you need to reset this.

Open up command prompt.... and type the following just as I've put it spaces and all:

netsh winsock reset catalog - Hit Enter

netsh int ip reset reset.log hit - Hit Enter

Now Reboot and test again.

Even if you think your problem is solved don't put that junk netbalancer back on there..its nothing but a sandbox and useless...control your bandwidth or monitor it using your router. Run these reset lines to get Windows7 winsock stacks back to default the way its supposed to be if anything did in fact alter it.

  On 24/07/2011 at 13:24, njlouch said:

Well, you claim not to be a novice but can't even track your usage?

Check for rootkits and drop the superiority complex. If you can't rule it out (and opinion rules nothing out) then it still exists.

Actually with most home routers it's not that easy to get per device bandwidth usage data.

Even the ones that allow collecting the data via something like SNMP usually only go down to the port level, which is no good in the case of wireless or if there's a switch further upstream of that port.

"I am not sure. The ping issues were due to an problem at the local LLU"

And are you still seeing an upload of 130 when your not doing anything?

And I agree with xbamaris the resource monitor in w7 is perfect tool for looking this up, not sure why I forgot it other than just habit from older windows versions not having the ability to look at this. But yes that is the best suggestion for looking to see what is uploading.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I had this issue and it is a nova android conflict issue. Initially the only way to fix it was clicking the screen off and then back on. Figured out it was because of a task I set up in tasker to load certain apps when I connect to my car, so fixed it by adding a 'go home' task after the app loaded and rarely have the issue now
    • I wish one of the windows updates hadn't broken glass. Is there a workaround for that I'm not aware of?
    • OpenAI announces o3 Pro, its most intelligent reasoning model by Pradeep Viswanathan OpenAI today announced o3-pro, its flagship reasoning model that uses more compute to "think harder" and provide consistently better answers. This new model will be replacing o1-pro in ChatGPT since it consistently performs better in math, science, and coding. To help everyone make the most out of the model, o3-pro supports tool calling. So, based on the user prompt, the model can do a web search, analyze files, reason about visual inputs, use Python, personalize responses using memory, and more. This is a big improvement over o1-pro, which lacked access to tools. But the downside is that o3-pro will take more time to respond. OpenAI recommends users use o3-pro in cases where reliability matters more than speed. According to OpenAI's evaluations, users consistently preferred o3-pro's responses over o3 in key domains like science, education, programming, business, and writing help. o3-pro was also rated consistently higher for clarity, comprehensiveness, instruction-following, and accuracy. The new o3-pro model is available in ChatGPT's model picker for Pro and Team. ChatGPT's Enterprise and Edu users will get access to this latest model next week. For developers, the o3-pro model comes with a 200,000 context window and is priced at $20 per million input tokens and $80 per million output tokens. OpenAI recommends developers use background mode with o3-pro to prevent timeouts. And the model has a May 31, 2024 knowledge cutoff. The OpenAI team also noted the following as the current limitations of the o3-pro model: At the moment, temporary chats are disabled for o3-pro as we resolve a technical issue. Image generation is not supported within o3-pro—please use GPT-4o, OpenAI o3, or OpenAI o4-mini to generate images. Canvas is also currently not supported within o3-pro. As OpenAI continues to refine its models, the balance between speed and reliability will likely remain a key consideration for users choosing the right tool for their needs.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Reacting Well
      rshit earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Reacting Well
      Alan- earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      IAMFLUXX earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Æhund earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      CoolRaoul earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      541
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      269
    3. 3
      +FloatingFatMan
      210
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      203
    5. 5
      snowy owl
      140
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!