A program for distributing the Internet inside a computer. How to limit the bandwidth of any application on Windows

The development of broadband and wireless Internet access leads to the fact that in many homes not one computer is connected to it, but several. Number of devices in the home wi-Fi networks taking into account smartwatches, TVs and even refrigerators, it easily reaches ten and exceeds it. This equipment is usually connected to one external channel, the capacity of which is limited. As a result, at the most inopportune moment, it is impossible to receive or send a large amount of information. It is then that users think about how to limit the Internet speed on a computer and by what means it can be done.

The fastest and at the same time "rough" method is associated with setting up the computer's network card. More precisely, with the forced change of its settings in the direction of reducing the bandwidth, which allows you to manually set the Internet speed limit on your computer. The essence of the method is that all network adapters use three standard access speeds:

  • up to 10 Mbps;
  • up to 100 Mbps;
  • up to 1000 Mbps (gigabit internet).

By default, the maximum bandwidth mode is selected, which at the hardware level is consistent with the capabilities of the provider. Statistically, according to data for the first quarter of 2017, the average peak speed of access to local networks in Russia is 69 Mbit / sec. Thus, most network cards operate in 100 Mbit mode, therefore, limiting it by an order of magnitude, we will achieve the desired result.

Three quarters of all Windows users use versions 7 and 10 of this operating system. They are the most popular and we will focus on working with them.

Windows 7

There are several ways to get to the network card settings. The most common is to use the network connection icon, "monitor" located in the system tray area.

In the screenshot, it is slightly "highlighted" from below, and above it is the result of clicking with the mouse. If you right-click on it, a dialog box will open with a choice of "troubleshoot" and "network control center". You can use it in any way, since our goal is to open the settings.

This is what the area of \u200b\u200binterest to us looks like in Windows 7. On the right side there are active connections. We open them and find ourselves in a window reflecting data transfer statistics.

The bottom part shows the activity, from where we go directly to the "Properties" of the connection.

At the top of the window, our adapter is shown, using which the device is connected. Press the "Configure" button and go to the settings of the network card.

We switch, as shown in the screenshot, to the "Advanced" tab, find the item responsible for the line speed, and set the operating mode to 10 Mbit / s.

You can also get to network settings from the computer control panel, which is located in the "Start" menu of the operating system.

Another way to get directly to the network settings is to call the "Run" menu with the "Win" + "R" key combination.

Entering the command shown in the screenshot into it will send you directly to the network connections section.

Windows 10

There are differences in the hardware configuration of Windows 10 due to the application of the new menu in this Microsoft operating system.

As you can see, the changes start with the connection icon and the clickable window. The dialog menu invoked by pressing the right button has not changed. It will take you straight to the Network Operations Center. Let's see how to get there from the window that appears. By clicking the "Options" hyperlink, you will find yourself in the menu of the new style "Network and Internet", which provides settings for all cases that may occur in the user's life.

At the moment they are absolutely not interesting to us. To get to the point you are looking for, scroll down to the very end. Here is the control center of interest to us.

The designers also worked on this place, but the picture turned out to be recognizable. As you already understand, we will choose a connection by local network... Then we will move to the adapter settings using the familiar route of the "seven".

We perform the switching as shown in the screenshot, thus achieving the necessary decrease in the adapter performance.

The "ncpa.cpl" command described slightly above still works and takes the user to the same network connections section.

By selecting the "Properties" item in the drop-down menu, you will go directly to the connection properties, from where there is only one step left to the adapter parameters.

Setting up a router

The forced settings specified in the parameters of the network card are rather an emergency method and only work on a wired connection. Considering that home networks are built using wireless technology, it would be preferable to put a speed limit on Wi-Fi for some devices in advance. In Windows, for these purposes, the built-in software tools is not provided, so you will have to adjust the Wi-Fi speed on the router.

Many modern models support this feature, although it is implemented in different ways by manufacturers. We will not dwell on a specific brand of router, but consider general principlesto limit the Wi-Fi speed for other users.

Guest network

Setting up a guest network on a router with a separate dedicated address range has a number of advantages:

  • you can enable guests to use wireless network on their devices without worrying about the security of their data. Many users “share” folders on their computers, making them freely available to family members. Creating an isolated guest network with a separate range of addresses will not allow outsiders to access them;
  • for such a network, you can not set a password at all, making it available to everyone for the evening or a few days. By setting a speed limit on your router, you will not allow you to use it to download a large amount of information.

When the need to select a separate range of addresses has disappeared, it can be disabled in a few clicks.

IP address range restriction

This method requires some understanding of the principles of networking. Your router receives an external IP address from your provider, which is used to connect to the Internet. For all home devices that have access to it, internal addresses are allocated through the built-in DHCP server, which change with each connection. When connecting to the network, any computer will request permission to work using the DHCP client service. The server will automatically assign it if there are free IPs.

The subnet, as shown in the screenshot, can be distributed in the range from 1 to 254. You can find out the required range used by your router by looking at the DHCP list.

To avoid slowing down the speed on the desired computer, it can be assigned a static IP, which it will be guaranteed to receive every time it goes online. Restrictions can be imposed on the rest of the address range by creating an appropriate rule in the router settings.

Control by MAC-addresses

Most effective method creation of flexible restrictions, control of network devices by unique MAC-addresses. Their peculiarity is that they are assigned at the time of production and are stored throughout the entire period of operation.

In this case, the allocation of IP addresses will not be dynamic, but static. For each computer or mobile device, you will need to register the MAC address of the network card in the router settings and assign the corresponding IP. This setup will take longer, but will allow you to configure your network well.

The screenshot shows an example where the MAC address field is filled in to assign a static address. After that, you can enter the Internet speed limit on the router. For TP-Link, this procedure is performed using Bandwich Control, for Zuxel Keenetic - using the bandwidth control firmware. As you can see, the name of this function may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, and the procedure for setting it up also differs.

Program control

As we have already said, Windows does not have built-in tools for limiting the Internet speed, but find a specialized software not difficult. Usually, such software is shareware, with a trial period, during which you can determine the need to use it and the expediency of purchasing. The most popular are the following:

  • Traffic Inspector. The test period is 30 days;
  • NetLimiter. A month is given to test the capabilities.

It should be noted that any program for limiting Internet speed has additional features, which add up to its cost. Taking into account the price, it is much more profitable to use it to control traffic consumption in a small office or Internet cafe than at home.

Finally

We told you about the ways to drive hardware and software restrictions on the use of the Internet by various devices. The most convenient for home use is the regulation of access using the capabilities of the router. Pay attention to its settings and, if necessary, configure the network for your needs.

The NetBalancer program combines tools that allow you to quickly and easily distribute the consumed traffic among specific applications. In other words, the utility sets a speed limit for the Internet connection (both for incoming and outgoing data packets), and also adjusts the parameters of network activity set by the user. If necessary, you can even block incoming Internet traffic in full. Among other advantages of the NetBalancer application, it should be noted the ability effective management independent processes and the creation of detailed statistics. Additionally, you can get information about the speed of the Internet connection and the amount of transmitted or received data.

The user interface is distinguished by a relatively simple graphic design and a convenient navigation toolbar. NetBalancer application supports work with a large number of language packs, including a Russian-language location. and therefore it will not be difficult for even an inexperienced user to understand the settings. To restrict direct access to the application, it is possible to set a password. The presence of a built-in scheduler will allow you to more effectively manage the distribution of Internet traffic and control the processes occurring on the computer. You can download the NetBalancer program for free and without mandatory registration at the link located after the description.

Compatibility with various operating systems of the Windows family virtually eliminates the likelihood of unexpected system failures or critical errors in the process. Updating of software components is carried out without user intervention - in automatic mode.

Key features of NetBalancer software:

  • Intuitive and friendly interface;
  • Minimum requirements for system resources;
  • The ability to limit traffic consumption;
  • Control over the priorities of network activity;
  • Built-in task scheduler.

Thus, the NetBalancer program is a completely professional product with which you can create a schedule for accessing the Internet, as well as effectively distribute traffic.

A program for recording incoming and outgoing traffic on your computer. It will help you not to exceed the traffic limit and not be without the Internet at all.

ATTENTION: starting from the 6th version the program became paid, so do not update it to avoid confusion. The latest free version 5.5.5 is located here.

Whoever used the Internet five years ago, he probably remembers the most important problem of the user - to constantly control the amount of traffic. After all, then there were no unlimited packages yet, and Dial-Up connection required money for each downloaded megabyte of information.

As a result, if you did not control the traffic consumption, then you could "fly into a pretty penny" :). But the people are inventive and they came up with many programs for measuring and limiting the flow. Today, the need for such utilities has diminished a little, but they are still in use, because during their existence they have acquired many additional useful functions.

Thanks to such programs, today you can measure the speed of the Internet connection, check all processes that have access to the Internet, measure the use of traffic in corporate networks and much more.

All of the above functions have a small program - NetWorx... In addition, it has a number of additional features that will be useful to both a system administrator and a simple user. The paid program DU Meter can be called just as simple but powerful tool.

Comparison of the free software for accounting traffic NetWorx with the paid analogue DU Meter

In addition, in NetWorx, you can impose a quota on the amount of traffic, as well as launch various applications on a schedule. The program itself comes in two versions: portable and installation. I think the easiest way is to use the "portable" version, although if you are a fan of installers, you can easily install NetWorx using the prompts of the standard installation wizard.

Installing NetWorx

I will assume that you have downloaded the portable version. To get started, you need to unpack the archive with the program and run the executable exe file. Before starting NetWorx directly, let's make a couple of settings. First, you need to specify the program language, and second, enable or disable checking for new versions. That's all:).

After that, the program icon will appear in the tray (the place next to the system clock), with which we will manage it.

NetWorx will be controlled via the right-click context menu.

All functions of the program are listed here in this menu, but some settings can be made before use. To do this, click on the menu section of the same name.

NetWorx Settings

"Settings" consists of several tabs. In "General" we can configure speed units, information displayed in the tray, and also (most importantly!) Which of the connections to monitor (by default, all traffic is counted).

The sections "Graph" and "Graph colors" allow us to customize appearance schedule of incoming / outgoing information packets. In "Notifications" you can enable and configure service messages from the program, and in "Additional" we have the ability to configure the collection of statistics.

The most recent tab, Dial-up, allows you to establish a default connection and add applications that will run with NetWorx.

After the settings are made, we first press the “Apply” button to make them take effect, and then “Ok” to exit the settings.

Traffic monitor

Now let's go straight through the NetWorx tools. The first and foremost one is the traffic monitor. It is presented in the form of a graph, which is called by the "Show Graph" button.

The graph can be presented in the form of a histogram (in my opinion, the most convenient), curved lines or just numbers. In this case, there will always be two numbers below. The number with the index “D” (blue by default) shows the amount of incoming traffic (from English download), and “U” (green), respectively, outgoing (from English upload).

The curves of the speed change appear on the graph with the corresponding colors, the numerical value of which can be correlated with the scale on the left.

Measuring speed

The next button - "Speed \u200b\u200bmeasurement" - measures, unfortunately, not the overall speed of your Internet connection, but only the current speed of the background packet transmission. This may be necessary to compare (save is available) the results at full load on the channel (for example, downloading a file) and at rest.

To start the test, just press the "Start" button and detect a certain period of time. Then the result can be saved to a text file, and then compared with the new data obtained when the channel was “loaded”.

Statistics

Most of all, this function will be liked by system administrators, since it is possible to conduct both a general calculation of traffic and display detailed statistics for each of the network users. Results can be exported to xls format ( spreadsheets Excel) and save on your computer.

There are also tools for backing up statistics and restoring it (for example, if you need to save all data after reinstalling the system).

Traffic quota

Moving on, we pass to the "Quota" section. This function is most suitable for users with Dial-up connection or limited traffic (for example mobile Internet). It allows you to set the maximum amount of information received or sent and will always warn the user about overspending the specified limit.

By default, the quota is set at 0.00 KB, so if you want to use this function, you will need to “Configure” it first :).

In the settings, we indicate the type of quota (daily, weekly, monthly, last 24 hours) and the type of traffic (incoming outgoing or all). You can leave the clock as it is, and then specify the units of measurement and the quota itself.

To save the settings, click "Ok", and in the quota monitoring window, do not forget to check the box "Notify when the quota is used up, by%" in order to receive timely information about overspending.

Route tracing

We have already considered the item "Settings", so we move on to the next one - "Route tracing". If you suddenly lost access to any Internet resource or you need to find out which path you are going through before you get to this or that site, try to trace this path. This can be done using standard Windows capabilities, but NetWorx makes it much easier and clearer.

To start tracing, enter the site name (of the remote computer) or its IP address. Now you can set the waiting time for a response (although often the standard value is more than enough) and you can press "Start". In this case, we traced the site yandex.ru and saw that to access it you need to go through 11 intermediate servers, and total time the passage of this path is 31 ms.

Ping

The next option is "Ping". The interface of the window of this function is very similar to the interface of the previous one, but its purpose is somewhat different. Ping, simply put, is the speed at which a remote computer responds to a request you send. The ping built into NetWorx is inferior in its capabilities to the “standard” one (there is no way to set your own keys to change parameters), but it copes with the main task.

The disadvantage of this function is that you cannot directly enter the website's Internet address - you need to know its exact IP (you can find it out from the previous utility). Now, specifically about the use: enter the address of the remote PC, select the timeout and the number of echo requests and click "Start".

In our example, the site pinged vkontakte.ru... The average response time is not calculated automatically, but it can be calculated in your head as well, by subtracting all the received values \u200b\u200band dividing by three :).

It turned out about 45 ms, which, in principle, is good (ping up to 50 ms ± 10 ms is considered good). The TTL value is the "time to live" of the echo packet. The number 64 means that the sent information packet can go through 64 intermediate servers.

Connections

The last tool is Connections. It allows you to monitor all applications that require an internet connection.

Immediately I advise you to enable the "Convert addresses to names" option. So you can see where this or that application is "climbing" and stop its attempt to connect to a suspicious resource. Pay special attention to "established" connections (ESTABLISHED) and listening ports (LISTENING), as these can carry hidden threats.

If a suspicious connection is detected, you can immediately terminate the application that installs it by right-clicking on it and selecting “End application”.

findings

Thus, we can summarize all of the above. NetWorx is not just a program for monitoring your Internet connection, but also a complex for ensuring security and comprehensive network diagnostics.

Therefore, if you suspect that some application is using traffic irrationally or even transmits confidential information, try to monitor your network with NetWorx and you can easily find the "spy" :).

P.S. It is allowed to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.

 

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