Make Windows use Internet sparingly

Question

How can I make Windows use as little Internet as possible (browser only for instance).

I am relying on mobile Internet (Max 1GB traffic) and I don't want Windows to run background operations that will eat up my plan.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 25 '15 at 17:22

As I stated in my comments, and as others have posted, Windows 8 will make it easy.

First off, download and install Firefox; it uses it's own proxy settings if you tell it to, without requiring Admin rights.

Once it's installed, set it to either auto-detect a Proxy, or to use No Proxy, depending on your setup (Options->Advanced->Network). You can also tell Windows 8 you are on a Metered connection in PC Settings->Network-> choose the Wifi->Set as Metered Connection.

Now, open the Administrative Command Prompt (Windows+X to bring up the menu), and type in netsh winhttp set proxy 127.0.0.1. This makes default programs and all Windows background services look for a proxy server at 127.0.0.1 (your localhost, aka the machine you're on) to get Internet Access. Firefox will ignore this setting, and allow you to work wherever you want.

To disable this, run netsh winhttp reset proxy from the Administrative Command Prompt; this will reset it to the original configuration.

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 25 '15 at 14:37

A off-the-wall way of doing this would be to set the proxy settings under Control Panel>Internet Options to a fake IP address (ex: 0.0.0.0) and then use a browser (or browser extension) to set your proxy to "None" for that application only. That way, all Windows traffic by default will timeout or fail unless you specify in an application to use no proxy.

Make Windows use Internet sparingly

2 Answers2