How to stop programs from accessing internet?

bird2010

Beta member
Messages
2
Hey, my mom got a mobile broadband card so we can get internet where we live. It works fine on my desktop, which im on now...But its different on my laptop. I got a new laptop for chrismas and when i plug the USB card in to get internet the usage goes up even when im not browsing the web. I noticed it was because my computer was installing an update, so I exited out of it and changed the settings so it doesnt automatically update.



How can i see what on my laptop is automatically using my internet bandwith up and make it so nothing besides Internet Explorer uses my data.. We have a 5GB/month data limi. I've only used around 2.5 MB on my desktop since i connected like 10 minutes ago...but on my laptop it would go to 2 MB in 10 seconds when im not even online. And the laptop is on Windows 7
 
Antivirus programs could be running updates, Windows Media Player could be accessing the web in the background depending on the settings it's using. Several other programs download updates such as Adobe products and Java.
 
The easiest way would probably be to run personal firewall software such as ZoneAlarm on the strictest settings and then adjust the settings to allow only the programs you specify to access the internet. This is kind of a "shotgun" approach, but may be easier than looking through all the settings for every program you have that may be accessing the internet.
 
Back
Top Bottom