How to limit any application’s bandwidth on windows

James Walker | February 24, 2021 October 12, 2018 | How-To

Windows 10 uses a process called Delivery Optimization to make it easier and faster to get Windows updates, but it can come at a cost of increased bandwidth usage. If you’re concerned about your bandwidth, you can turn Delivery Optimization off.

1. From Settings, open Update & Security, and then click on Advanced Options
2. Click on Delivery Optimization, at the bottom of the Advanced Options page
3. You can toggle Allow Downloads from other PCs, or
4. if you have multiple PCs on a local network, allow those but disable PCs on the Internet

Applies to All Windows 10 Versions

The launch of Windows 10 brought an overhaul of Windows Update that includes new features to make the update process simpler. Updates are downloaded by a process called Delivery Optimization. As the name implies, this is an intelligent service which is capable of choosing the best source to get you up-to-date.

Delivery Optimization speeds up the download process by allowing updates to be provided by sources other than Microsoft. With older Windows versions, updates always came from Microsoft’s servers. This meant that if you owned several computers, each one would need to download every update that Microsoft released.

Delivery Optimization offers an alternative approach that’s much more efficient. Windows 10 systems treat Microsoft servers as one of many update sources. The system will first consult with other devices on your network, as well as Windows 10 PCs on the wider Internet. If it finds a machine that already has the update, it can retrieve it directly without reaching back to the Windows Update servers.

Of course, this does come at a price. To enable the peer-to-peer feature, your PC has to do its part in uploading parts of updates to the wider web. If you’ve got poor upload bandwidth or a restrictive data usage cap, you might find Windows’ automatic uploading causes you more problems than it solves.

You can disable Delivery Optimization by opening the Windows 10 Settings app and heading to the “Update and security” category. The Windows Update page should open automatically.

At the bottom of the page, click the “Advanced options” button and then the small “Delivery Optimization” link at the bottom of the page. Note that older versions of Windows 10 label this link more obviously as “Change how updates are delivered” – you may wish to refer to an older version of this tutorial.

You’re now on the Delivery Optimization settings page where you can control how the feature works. To disable Delivery Optimization entirely, turn off the “Allow downloads from other PCs” toggle button. This will prevent Windows from acquiring updates from non-Microsoft sources, including devices on your local network.

Typically, you will want to keep Delivery Optimization enabled for devices on your network, but disable the peer-to-peer Internet functionality. This keeps downloads fast within your home while preventing Windows from consuming your bandwidth. To enable this option, keep the toggle button turned on but select the “PCs on my local network” option.

By default, Windows comes with the “PCs on my local network, and PCs on the Internet” box selected. This enables the peer-to-peer Internet transfers, as well as transfers within your local network. If you want to re-enable the Internet sharing in the future, return to the Delivery Optimization settings page and enable this checkbox.

If you want more control over Delivery Optimization downloads, click the “Advanced options” link to see additional settings. Here, you can control how much bandwidth Delivery Optimization is allowed to use when downloading and uploading new updates.

It’s possible to set a monthly upload limit when peer-to-peer Internet sharing is enabled, which allows you to share updates with the web while staying within your data cap. To enable these options, just tick the checkbox next to each one and adjust the sliders to your desired values. Note that older versions of Windows 10 may not have all of these settings.

Finally, you can get a detailed overview of how much bandwidth Delivery Optimization is using. Back on the main Delivery Optimization settings page, click “Activity monitor” to see a graphical representation of the service’s recent activity. The page shows you average download speeds, as well as how much data has been used when sharing updates with your local network and the wider Internet.

That’s all about Delivery Optimization. While it sounds technical, it’s really just a way for Windows to get updates in the most timely manner. Although the default settings won’t be appropriate for every user, if you’ve got a fast and unlimited data plan you probably don’t need to worry too much about Delivery Optimization’s actual operation.

Do you want to download, watch a stream, and play your online game without lag at the same time?

Do you want to limit the bandwidth to get the best ping?

As you know, by default the internet connection is used by all your applications and operating system equally. Sometimes you want to do multiple tasks while playing online, causing your ping to jump to high and having difficulty because of low internet speed.

Unless you have a 5G or an Optical Fiber connection, you will need to distribute your internet’s bandwidth according to your needs.

For example, you can set the limit to your Google Chrome bandwidth downloads to 500KB/s and uploads to 300KB/s , set the limit to your Steam Client to 200KB/s and the same thing goes to other applications.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use NetLimiter which is a free software allowing you to regain control over your bandwidth for Free.

NetLimiter: Control Bandwidth of Applications on Windows 10

You can download NetLimiter for free from this official URL:

After the download, start the installation by choosing a destination folder, accepting the License terms and conditions, and clicking “INSTALL“.

Click “OK” to restart apps that are open, otherwise, you may need a restart after the installation is finished.

Launch your NetLimiter software from the Desktop shortcut.

You can control global connections, internet connection, local connection network and individual applications.

On top you will find three toggle buttons: Blocker On, Limiter On, Priorities On

Those three buttons will allow you to enable/disable all rules without having to close the program.

For example, if you want to limit the download & upload speed of my internet browser Google Chrome, all you have to do is select Google Chrome from the list, and add the “Limit” Rules on the right pane.

You can also set the “Priority” which sets a minimum & maximum bandwidth percentage according to the Priorities settings that we will uncover later on.

Under the “Rules List” tab, you can see all the rules you have set up.

Under the “Priorities” tab you can redefine the percentage of bandwidth reservations according to each type of priority.

If you have found this easy tutorial useful, please share it with your friends and family.

Otherwise, how can I help you?

Please leave a comment about NetLimiter if you have any questions!

Join the Community

Bandwidth, data, and speed are closely related terms and are sometimes used interchangeably. The amount of bandwidth that a computer connection is allotted determines how much data can be downloaded per second, or transferred from the Internet to the computer. More bandwidth equals more data per second, which translates to more speed. In some cases, a bandwidth limit refers to a speed limit, and in other cases it refers to a data limit.

Bandwidth limits may apply to surfing the Internet and downloading files or programs.

For example, broadband Internet services sell access plans based on speed, limiting bandwidth according to each plan. Plans with higher limits are more expensive, but faster.

Luckily, many standard plans include unlimited access, so users don’t have to worry about limits in terms of data download. Every time the user visits a webpage, after all, the page must be transferred to the computer, constituting a download. This says nothing of files, programs, videos, and music that someone might download.

A number of online services do impose caps on the amount of data that can be downloaded over a set period of time. Depending on the service, data limits might apply to surfing as well as to downloading files or programs. A bandwidth limit might also apply to personal domains.

Subscribers of mobile broadband (Internet access supplied over cellular towers), commonly have bandwidth limits. Typically, an account is allotted a large block of “free” data, with charges applying for every megabyte downloaded past the allotted amount. If the account is contractual, the allotted amount refreshes or starts over every month. If the account is pay as you go, the limit applies to the segment of time purchased.

There are also limits associated with domains. People who have their own domains often find that the website host service imposes a monthly bandwidth limit on the account. Every time someone visits the website, the account racks up a download deficit that counts against this monthly allowance. The more visitors, the more the allowance is whittled away. If a popular site has a very low limit, the owner might find himself paying extra charges or having to upgrade the plan to increase the site’s allotment.

Another example where these limits are found is in USENET newsgroup services. Services that sell access to binary newsgroups where people can share large files typically cap accounts with a limit that prevents downloading more data from the news server than has been allotted for the month. Some newsgroup services offer plans that charge a flat monthly fee for unlimited downloads, eliminating the limit.

People who find themselves regularly watching their bandwidth use may want to consider installing a bandwidth monitor. Many of these programs are free and will keep a running tally of downloads along with displaying real-time connection speeds. Some will also sound an alert at user-configurable points to announce and approaching threshold, allowing users to make better decisions about how to spend the rest of their bandwidth allotment.

Someone who is only concerned about a website’s bandwidth limit should know that most host services feature a built-in monitor accessible through the site’s administration interface. In addition to seeing how much bandwidth an account has left for the month, the host might also provide traffic analysis, information that can help improve the site’s content.

People who find themselves regularly watching their bandwidth use may want to consider installing a bandwidth monitor.

Unless you are living in some awesome city, most of the Internet connections are of low bandwidth, maybe a couple “Mbps” on average. Managing all those applications in your Windows system to use that limited bandwidth is a real pain. Though you have all sorts of features in Windows, there is no option that lets you control which app uses what amount of bandwidth. Sure, you can completely block an app using the built-in Windows firewall or a third-party firewall software, but that doesn’t work for everyone as you want those apps to access the Internet.

Here is how you can limit certain applications using up all your bandwidth.

Limit Bandwidth to Certain Applications in Windows 10

In order to limit bandwidth to select applications in Windows, we are going to use a third party application called Net Balancer. The free or unregistered version of this app is capable of limiting up to three processes at any given point of time, which is good enough for most home users.

To start, head over to the official website and download the NetBalancer application. Once downloaded, install it like any other software.

Since the application installs its own drivers, you will lose your Internet connectivity after the installation, so make sure that you’ve saved all your work before installing the program and restart the system after installation.

After the restart, launch the program either using the desktop shortcut or from the Start menu. Once launched, the app might ask if you would like to set some predefined network priorities. Just click on the button “No” for now. You can always set the pre-defined priorities later.

In the main window the first thing you need to do is filter out the processes that are connected to the Internet. To do that, click on the “Show online processes only” icon on the top-right corner.

You can also click on the “Download Rate” section to sort all the process according to how much bandwidth they are using.

Once you find the target process you want to limit the bandwidth for, right-click on it and select either low, normal or high priority. This action will limit how much bandwidth the process can use.

If you want to set a precise limit of the target process, then select the “Limit” option from the context menu.

The above action will open the “Edit Priority” window. Here enter the limit rate in KB/s and click on the OK button to save the changes. As you can see from the below image, I’m limiting the Chrome process to only use 120KB/s from the available bandwidth.

You can also set the upload priority by changing the Upload Priority status to “Limited.”

Once the limit has been set, the target process cannot exceed the set limit unless you change or remove the limit.

If you want to remove the limit, simply change the Priority status from “Limit” to “Normal” in the Edit Priority window.

If for some reason the application cannot detect your network card, click on the “Edit” option appearing on the top navigation bar and select “Network Adapters.”

Once the Network Adapters window has been opened, select the network adapters you want to monitor and click on the “Ok” button to save the changes. In my case, I only have one network adapter on my desktop, so the application only shows that and automatically selected it.

It is that simple to limit certain apps in Windows from using up all the bandwidth. Do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above app to limit application bandwidth usage in Windows.

Vamsi is a tech and WordPress geek who enjoys writing how-to guides and messing with his computer and software in general. When not writing for MTE, he writes for he shares tips, tricks, and lifehacks on his own blog Stugon.

January 31, 2016 By Nithindev

How to limit bandwidth to certain applications in Windows 10: – Bandwidth is the maximum rate at which a network can transfer data. Our internet connections are of low bandwidth. So, insufficient bandwidth is a major trouble we face every day. In our Windows system, we have plenty of applications for our various requirements.Most of these applications eat up our available bandwidth either running in foreground or background. Thus by using this limited bandwidth, these applications create a bandwidth bottleneck in our systems. Even though Windows support a wide range of features, there is no such feature which controls the bandwidth utilisation of an application. We can restrict applications from using the Windows firewall, but it is not practical since we might want those applications to connect to the internet. In such a situation we can make use of a third party software called Net Balancer. This software gives us full network control over our computer. Read on, to learn how to use this software effectively.

STEP 1

• Go to the official website of NetBalancer and click on Download NetBalancer button.

STEP 2

• Double click on the downloaded file to install it like any other software. After installation restart your system.

STEP 2

• After restarting your system, launch NetBalancer either using Desktop shortcut or from the start menu. The app may ask you to set some predefined network priorities. Just press No for now. You can always set them later.

STEP 3

• In the top-right corner of the main window click on Show online processes only icon to filter the processes that are connected to the internet.

STEP 4

• Click on the Download Rate section to sort the processes according to the bandwidth they are using.

STEP 5

• Right-click on the process you want to limit the bandwidth. You can select either low, normal or high to limit the bandwidth it uses.

• If you want to set a precise value as a limit select the Limit option from the expanded menu.

STEP 6

• It will open the Edit Priority window. From here you can limit the rate and press OK button. Here I have limited Chrome process to use only 150 KB/s of the available bandwidth.

• You can also set the upload limit by changing Upload Priority into Limited.

• The process cannot exceed the limit unless you change the limit. If you want to remove the limit, change the priority status from Limited to Normal in the Edit Priority window.

STEP 7

• Sometimes the application may not be able to detect your network card. In that case, click on the Edit option in the navigation bar and select Network Adapters.

• In the Network Adapters window, select the network adapter to be monitored and press OK . Here I have three network adapters on my laptop. I have selected to monitor all the three adapters.

Now you have learnt a simple trick to limit specific apps in Windows from eating up all the available bandwidth.

Windows is indeed a great desktop operating system. The operating system is powering the majority of desktop computers and laptops. If you have been using Windows operating system for a while, then you might know that there are lots of software available for the platform.

On average, a user installs almost 30-40 software on their computer. If you have limited internet bandwidth, then managing all those applications in your Windows system could be a real pain. Just like the operating system, applications also need updates, and they can consume lots of internet bandwidth.

Limit Bandwidth to Certain Applications in Windows 10

Unless you are living in some high-tech city, most of the internet connections are of low bandwidth. So, if bandwidth is what restricting you to enjoy the internet fully, then you are reading the right article.

In this article, we are going to share a few best methods that would help you to limit bandwidth to certain applications in Windows 10. These methods would let you limit bandwidth to select applications in Windows 10.

Using NetBalancer

Here you will be using NetBalancer to manage bandwidth between an installed application on your Windows. With that, you can easily limit them to any of the apps to save your bandwidth.

Steps To Use NetBalancer to Limit Bandwidth to Certain Applications:

Step 1. First of all in your Windows 10 you need to download and install the cool application that is NetBalancer the tool that will allow you to manage your bandwidth between certain apps.

Step 2. Now firstly save all the work that you are doing over the internet as while installing this app the drivers will be installed that will stop internet connection. Now after completing the installation you need to restart your computer.

Step 3. Now after your computer is restarted launch the application from the created desktop shortcut and then click on Filter internet application and you will see all the application that working on the internet.

List of all apps installed on your device

Step 4. Right-click on any of the application and select their priority according to your wish as low, medium or high according to your wish,

Select the priority

Step 5. You can also create custom rules for individual apps. Just select ‘Create Rule’ and set the new rules.

Custom rules

Now limit the data usage in KB’s for the apps that you want to restrict data usage.

That’s it, you are done! now the data limit will be set for that app.

Using NetLimiter

Well, NetLimiter is one of the best most advanced network management tools that you can use on your Windows 10 computer. The best thing about NetLimiter is that it allows users to set a certain bandwidth limit on apps. So, with NetLimiter, you can decide which apps can connect to the internet and how much they are allowed to use. Here’s how you can use NetLimiter on Windows 10 computer.

Step 1. First of all, visit this link to download & install NetLimiter on your Windows 10 computer. Once installed open the tool.

Step 2. Now, open the app and you will now see the main interface of the app. To check the exact download and upload speeds, click on the installed apps.

Click on the ‘Installed’ apps

Step 3. To monitor internet traffic, you can double click on the app to view the traffic statistic.

Step 4. To set rules on NetLimiter, you need to select the app and then head to the Options > Add Rules.

Set rules

Step 5. Now, if you want to set the traffic quota on any specific app, then select the app and then click on ‘Filter’ and then set the bandwidth quota.

Set Traffic Quota

That’s it, you are done! This is how you can use NetLimiter to limit Bandwidth to certain apps in Windows 10.

Alternatives

Well, just like the above tools, there are plenty of other bandwidth limiters available for Windows 10 computers. Almost every other tools work in a similar way where you need to pick software and set a limitation. Below, we are going to list down 3 best bandwidth limiters for Windows 10.

1. Glasswire

It is one of the leading and top-rated network monitor tools available for the Windows operating system. The great thing about GlassWire is that it allows users to monitor their bandwidth consumption and network activity by location, application. Not just that, but GlassWire also allows users to remotely monitor and block servers and IP addresses.

2. cFosSpeed

It is another best bandwidth limiter tool available for Windows 10 computers. The best thing about cFosSpeed is that its pretty lightweight and brings in lots of useful features. Although the app focuses on displaying the internet speed in real-time, it also allows users to configure their network traffic. The mini-tool allows users to limit bandwidth consumption per-app basis.

3. SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager

Well, SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager is another best Windows 10 bandwidth limiter software on the list which allows users to limit bandwidth usage on a per-app basis. The app brings in lots of features which makes the tool a little bit complicated. But it packs all necessary features that you expect from a network monitoring and management tool. SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager allows users to create their own custom rules to limit bandwidth usage.

So above is all about How to Limit Bandwidth to Certain Applications in Windows 10. I hope this article helped you! Share it with your friends also.

Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update gives you more control of Windows Update’s downloads and uploads. You can now set a download bandwidth limit, ensuring Windows Update won’t hog your Internet connection with its background downloads.

The Settings app also gives you more control of Windows Update’s background uploads and keeps track of how much data Windows Update has downloaded and uploaded. This setting also applies to app updates from the Store and updates for other Microsoft products, not just Windows updates.

How to Limit Windows Update’s Download Bandwidth

To find this setting, head to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. Click “Advanced Options” under Update Settings.

Click the “Delivery Optimization” link on the Advanced options page.

Click the “Advanced Options” button here.

Activate the “Limit how much bandwidth is used for downloading updates in the background” and drag the slider to set a limit as a percentage of your total available bandwidth.

As this window notes, Windows Update won’t try to use all your bandwidth by default. Instead, Windows Update tries to “dynamically optimize” the amount of bandwidth it uses. But this option allows you to ensure Windows Update won’t go above a certain percentage of your available bandwidth, no matter what.

How to Limit Windows Update’s Upload Bandwidth

You can also limit the upload bandwidth used by Windows Update. Windows Update normally uploads copies of updates to other PCs—either just your PCs on your local network or PCs on your local network and on the Internet, depending on what you choose on the “Delivery Optimization” screen.

The sliders here allow you to choose how much bandwidth is used to upload updates to other PCs on the Internet and set a monthly upload limit, which is the maximum amount of data your PC uploads.

We think there’s no good reason to even have the Internet upload feature enabled in the first place, especially when more Internet service providers are enforcing data usage limits. Let other PCs download updates from Microsoft’s servers so Microsoft can pay for the data. You can still leave the “PCs on my local network” option enabled to have your PCs share the downloaded data among themselves, speeding up your updates and saving you download bandwidth.

How to View How Much Data Your PC Has Downloaded and Uploaded

To view more information about how much data Windows Update has downloaded and uploaded, click the “Activity monitor” link on the Delivery Optimization page.

This page shows you download and upload statistics, including how much data has been downloaded in the background and your average download speed. You can also see how much data you’ve downloaded from Microsoft, from PCs on your local network, and from PCs on the Internet.

This includes Windows Update updates, Store app updates, and even updates to other Microsoft products on your system.

Scroll down and you can also see how much data Windows Update has uploaded to both other PCs on the Internet and PCs on your local network.

Microsoft isn’t completely unaware of the problem users face because of Windows Updates. They have worked out a couple of options to put a check on the download and upload bandwidth for Windows Updates.

The ability to limit Windows Update download and upload speed was first added to Windows Insider Build 16241, released in July. With the release of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft brought the feature for everyday users.

So, if you’re running FCU, you can delight yourself with the fact that a download speed limiter is present for Windows Updates.

How to limit update download speed in Windows 10?

The options to limit download speed of Windows Updates is present deep inside the Update & Security settings in Windows 10. Follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Update & Recovery.
   
3. In the Windows Update section, click Advanced Options.
   
4. On the next screen, click Delivery Optimization.
   
5. Under Delivery Optimization, click Advanced Options.
   
6. On the next screen, you’ll find the slider to choose how much percentage of bandwidth you want to allocate to Windows Update. The slider can be enabled by checking the box that says “Limit how much bandwidth is used for downloading updates in the background“.
   Similarly, you can choose the upload bandwidth for Windows Update and monthly upload limit. Windows 10 includes the functionality to push Windows Updates to other PCs on the network.

The only problem with this feature is that you can’t choose a number while allocating bandwidth. Putting a bar on the download and upload speeds is quite handy at times when we want to browse the web or stream a video, and the updates start sucking the bandwidth.

Note: This post has been updated to reflect that Windows 10 Fall Creators Update has released.

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The speed of your Internet connection largely depends on external factors you cannot control. However, sometimes there are software elements that influence your connection speed. Once such factor is Windows reserving 20% of your network bandwidth for special QoS ( Q uality o f S ervice), essentially capping you at using 80% of your total available bandwidth. This guide shows you how to remove this limitation and force Windows to use 100% of your network bandwidth.

Food For Thought

Before you jump on the bandwidth bandwagon, there are a few things to consider.

Firstly, the 20% reserved bandwidth is for QoS traffic. This traffic includes stuff like streaming videos, Windows Update, VoIP, etc. — anything that makes use of the QoS Packet Scheduler. Windows has this reserved bandwidth to ensure a smooth experience with QoS traffic because this type of traffic typically needs a high amount of reliable bandwidth. If you go ahead and disable this reserved bandwidth, you may experience issues with QoS tasks.

Secondly, 20% of your bandwidth is reserved only when QoS tasks are running. When no QoS task is running, by default you have access to 100% of your bandwidth. So by going forward with removing the 20% reserve, essentially you wouldn’t be recovering all 20% of your bandwidth; you would be recovering the piece of the 20% that is wasted and unused when a QoS task is running .

Thirdly, having access to 100% of your bandwidth does not ensure faster connection speeds. First of all, as I mention in my second point above, you already have access to 100% of your bandwidth when no QoS task is running; as such, if you rarely run QoS tasks, manually removing the 20% reserve will do much of nothing because you already typically have all 100%. More importantly, however, if you aren’t using all 80% of your bandwidth with the 20% reserve, then removing the 20% reserve will do nothing — you will just have extra bandwidth you are not using. I am not saying removing the reserve will do absolutely nothing; I am saying keep your expectations in check.

Take a few minutes and think about the three points I mention above. Personally speaking I leave the 20% reserve as-is because I see no major advantages of removing it. However, if you insist on recovering that 20% reserve, continue reading to learn how.

How to force Windows to use 100% of your network bandwidth

Making Windows use 100% of your network bandwidth can be done one of two ways. You can change a setting in Windows’ Group Policy Object Editor or you can make a simple registry tweak. Group Policy Object Editor is available in only some versions of Windows (Vista Business and higher and Windows 7 Pro and higher); the registry tweak works on all editions of Windows XP, Vista, and Win7. As such, this guide describes how to remove the 20% reserve using the registry tweak.

To remove the 20% bandwidth reserve in Windows, do the following:

• Press Win + R on your keyboard, type regedit.exe in the Run box that pops up, and hit OK:

• Once you hit OK the registry editor will open. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows folder:

• Right-click on the Windows folder, go to New, click on Key, and name the new folder that is created Psched:

• Click (single left-click) on the new Pshed folder you just created.
• Right-click in the right-pane (the white space), go to New, click on DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name the registry entry that was created NonBestEffortLimit:

• Right-click the NonBestEffortLimit key you just created and select Modify:

• At the window that pops up make sure the Value data is 0 and and the base is Decimal:

Take note instead of 0 you can put whatever number you want. The number in the Value data box corresponds to the percentage of your bandwidth you want to reserve for QoS traffic. So, for example, if I wanted to keep the QoS traffic reserve but wanted make the reserve 10% instead of 20%, I would enter 10 in the Value data box.

Hit OK when ready.

• Restart your computer.
• Done.

How To Restore The 20% Reserve

If at a later date you decide you no longer like removing/modifying the 20% reserve, you can simply edit the NonBestEffortLimit key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Psched and enter 20 in the Value data box to restore the reserve back to its default 20%; or you can delete the whole Psched folder, which makes it like you never modified the reserve in the first place (it goes back to its default 20%). Then restart your computer and you are good to go.

Conclusion

At this point I would typically make a snide comment about how you can now commit 100% of your bandwidth to downloading… stuff… but that would be insensitive considering the mega events that have transpired this past week. Instead I’ll finish off this post with a signature, Enjoy!