Bill Bradshaw <
[email protected]> wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:
Bill Bradshaw <[email protected]> wrote:
Several days ago I brought up all the data usage I was receiving
through this service. A few days ago it was over 800 megs. Today it
is over 40 megs. I have finally traced it to the Microsoft cache
server and Microsoft Edge. I need get rid of or stop MS Edge. Of
course if I do is it still going to send this data to me. Is there
away to block this cache server?
Some possible candidate causes.
_Windows distributed updates (aka delivery optimization)_
Are you letting Microsoft use your computer(s) to particpate in a
shared update process?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update-delivery-optimization-and-privacy-bf86a244-8f26-a3c7-a137-a43bfbe688e8
I have no desire to get any updates from anywhere other than from the
product's download site. I don't even want my own intranet hosts to
be storing updates to delivery to my other intranet hosts. I turned
off that "feature" the moment I read or heard about it.
_Edge auto-update_
Most web browsers have an auto-update functions. While I use Firefox
as my primary web browser, even it will auto-update unless I disable
its Mozilla Maintenance service; however, I let Mozilla update
Firefox in the background. Edge I do, too, but wouldn't feel much
impacted if I disabled Edge auto-update.
https://winaero.com/how-to-disable-updates-in-microsoft-edge/
_Windows UWP apps auto-update_
Are you letting Windows auto-update the UWP apps? See:
https://winaero.com/prevent-windows-10-from-downloading-app-updates-automatically/
Everything was already set this way. I also have version updates disabled because I use cumulative.
Under settings "Activity Monitor" Microsoft cache server has already
uploaded over 400 megs to me this month. What does yours show?
<Bill>
283 MB since 5/1/24.
No idea what is that content. I haven't bothered to track to where I've
web visited to then track where all those sites host their content.
Seems just another method employed by CDNs (Content Delivery Networks)
where a site deposits some of their content rather than take the full
brunt of bandwidth by hosting it themself. Like a "company jet" that
isn't owned by the company, but leased with several companies leasing
the same jet. Cheaper to have a pro service deliver the content than
host it yourself. Microsoft hosts a lot of content at Akamai.
Also, while I disable Windows updates (and the others I mentioned), I periodically reenable them. I prepare with an image backup, enable
updates, updates, and disable updates again. So, if the cached content
has to do with updates, yep, I got some this month. In fact, when WU is disabled, there are some features in Windows that become inaccessible,
like looking at update history or using the MS Store app. Within the
past few days, I had to reenable WU to use the MS Store app looking for
an app to address someone else's concern. Maybe I got some data pushed
to my host during that brief window of opportunity.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/do/waas-microsoft-connected-cache
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/do/mcc-isp-faq
From the 2nd article, seems the MS cache is nothing more than yet
another cache your own ISP may use. Most ISP use caches to reduce their bandwidth load. Instead of having to handle the bandwidth for every
request from all their customers going to the same sites, the ISP caches
that content, so you get their cached content. Whether it's a site
using a CDN to offload bandwidth to a 3rd party or your ISP doing much
the same, the site or your ISP is trying to reduce the load on their
limited resources.
Even your own computer is caching DNS requests, and so is your ISP, and
to whomever you choose to get DNS services. Faster to get from a cache
then to connect to the nameserver to do the lookup. Caching is used in
lots of ways. Your own web browser uses caching.
To me, 283 MB is puny. Even your sub-GB seems trivial. But you may
have concerns other than just storage space although what got recorded
as downloaded doesn't mean it all has been retained.
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