How to control Data Usage in Windows 10?

7 min readJun 25, 2021

Hello, if your laptop or PC is taking up a huge amount of data and you want to control or manage it, then you are in right place. As we all know that our operating system needs an internet connection to work smoothly. Many users don’t have a wifi connection at their home, so they use their mobile data for internet connection. Mobile Data is very limited and should be used carefully.

So, I am going to suggest 6 ways through which you can monitor and manage your data. Even if you are having a wifi connection, these methods will help you a lot as windows consume a lot of data than usual. So follow the below steps and save your data.

1. Switch to Metered Connection

Windows 10 have a feature named “Metered Connection”.when you connect your laptop to the internet through your mobiles hotspot, it is set to an Unmeteres connection by default. In metered connection, windows suspend all its updates like windows feature updates, app updates, etc. These updates consume a lot of data without your knowledge. So, follow the below steps to set to a metered connection easily.

Step 1 — Open Windows Settings, to open just type “Settings” on the search bar.

Step 2 — A settings window will appear, now click on “Network and internet”.

Step 3 — Now, in the status section, you will see your active connections whether it is ethernet or wifi. for setting up a metered connection you have to click on “Change connection properties”.

Step 4 — Now you just have to scroll down to “Set as metered connection”. Click on the slider and flick it on.

And that’s it, your connection is metered.

2. Restrict Background Data

There is a lot of processes that run on your background. These can be automatic updates of applications, downloading tiles, etc. You can restrict these processes from using your data. Let’s hope on the steps to save your data.

Step 1 — Open “Windows Settings”.

Step 2 — Click on “Network and Internet”.

Step 3 — On the left section, Tap on “Data usage”.

Step — 4 Scroll down and you will a “Background Data Section”. Select “Never” to restrict your background data.

3. Set Data Limit

Having a data limit on your pc is a brilliant way to control your data usage. After you set your limit and exceed that data limit, your pc will notify you that you have gone beyond the limits. This method will be more effective if you set your connection metered. Now, let’s see how you can do that.

Step 1 — Open “Windows Settings”.

Step 2 — Now select “Network and internet”.

Step 4 — On the left section select “Data Usage”.

Step 5 — Now before moving ahead, you should check that your active internet connection is selected(of that you want to reduce data usage) in the “Show Settings for” section. if not then select your active connection, Then below it, click on “Set Limit”.

Step 6 — Now a small window named “Set data limit” will be opened( see below ).

On the Limit type, Select the limit duration according to your preference. You can select from one time, monthly and unlimited duration. then select reset date and data limit. After you have configured the settings according to your preference, click on save. Now when you cross the data limit, it will notify you. you can edit or remove the data limit by navigating to the data usage section.

4. Disable Background Applications

Your windows operating system permits many applications to run in the background by default. Even if you have closed them and not using them, they run in the background without your knowledge. these applications consume a lot of data and power. this affects your battery life, if you are a laptop user. So turning off these background activities is a good step towards your data saving and battery life. Let’s see how we can do this-

Step 1 — Open the “Windows Settings” menu.

Step 2 — Select “Privacy”.

Step 3 — Now on the left section, scroll down and you will find “Background Apps”. select it.

Step 4 — Now, in the right section, you will see many apps running in the background. You can select which app you want to run in the background or turn off all the apps by just one click. To disable a particular app, click on the toggle slider next to the app to turn them off. To Disable all the applications, on the top you will see “Let app run in the background”, just click on the slider below it ad toggle it off. Now you have turned off all the background applications.

5. Turn Off Settings Synchronization

Synchronization consumes a lot of data, whether it’s your phone or laptop. Whenever you log in to your Microsoft account on any device. that device starts syncing the settings to all your other devices, on which you have your Microsoft account logged in. This is among the best feature of Windows 10, but you don’t need it always. If you have only one device in which your Microsoft account is logged in, then you don’t need the Setting Synchronization. But if you have more devices or laptops, then you can select which settings should be synced to other devices. So, to manage the synchronization, follow the steps given below.

Step 1 — Open the “Windows Settings”.

Step 2 — Select the “Accounts” option.

Step 3 — Now on the left section, click on “sync your settings”.

Step 4 — Now under “Sync settings”. Click on the slider and toggle it off. If you want to decide which settings you want to be synced, you can manage it under “Individual sync settings”. Click on the slider below individual settings to turn that setting off.

6. Manage Windows Updates

Windows Updates are very crucial for your operating system. updates shouldn’t be restricted, but sometimes these updates are too big in size. If you have limited data, then you should pause these updates. You can resume these updates when you have a WiFi connection. So follow the below steps and control your updates.

Step 1 — Open the “Windows Settings”.

Step 2 — Select “Updates & Security”.

Step 3 — Now, According to your preferences, you can select whether you want to pause updates for 7 days or for a fixed amount of time. If you want to pause for 1 week, click on “Pause updates for 7 days”. you can extend the time by clicking on the same option. But if you don’t have enough time to continuously lookout the update window, You can click on “Advanced options”.

Step 4 — Now under the “pause until” menu, Fix the date when you want to resume updates. Note that you can pause updates for up to 35 days, after that you should extend the time or the updates will be downloaded.

So these are the ways through which you can save your data.