Take back your bandwidth
At last unofficial account, Windows 10 had been downloaded and installed on tens of millions of devices, and that number may be in the hundreds of millions at this point. A big reason why is because Microsoft is giving the OS away for free as a no-cost upgrade for existing Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users. That's really swell of Microsoft, though if you're one of the millions who are now on Windows 10, did you know that your PC is configured by default to help dole out updates to other PCs?
It's part of a feature called Windows Update Deliver Optimization (WUDO). What it does is allow your PC to snag Windows updates and Windows Store apps from sources in addition to Microsoft. It's intended to help people with limited or unreliable Internet connections, as it can reduce the amount of Internet bandwidth that's required to update all the PCs in your home.
Sounds neat, but there's a caveat. By default (in Windows 10 Home and Pro), you're not just sharing and plucking updates and apps with other PCs in your own home network, you're also uploading data to PCs on the Internet. Here's the relevant bit of info:
"Delivery Optimization also sends updates and apps from your PC to other PCs on your local network or PCs on the Internet," Microsoft explains.
According to ZDNet, this option is turned on by default in Windows 10, and without any heads up during the installation process.
Knowledge is power, right? Once you know what's going on, there's something you can do about it (if you're not keen on donating your upload bandwidth). One option is to disable WUDO altogether. To do that, go to Start > Settings > Updates & security > Windows Update > Advanced options, select Choose how updates are delivered, and toggle Delivery Optimization off.
Another option is to leave it on, but select the "PCs on my local network" radio button instead of the "PCs on my local network, and PCs on the Internet" option.
Finally, it's worth pointing out that WUDO will avoid metered connections. To mark your connected as metered, go to Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Advanced options and toggle "Set as metered connection."
Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook
From maximumpc
from http://bit.ly/1T0pm9A
