When you are on a limited data plan, it’s important to save your data and use it efficiently. We should keep track and monitor our data usage just to be sure that we are not wasting our data on some undesirable processes. Honestly, for a college student like me, every MB counts. Looking at the expensive data plan, we can assume that ‘More efficiently we spend our data, More money we save.’ So optimizing device for efficient data usage on a limited data plan is crucial.
A few days back, a friend of mine forgot to disconnect his PC from the internet, over the night his data got vanished on some useless updates. Unfortunately, he was on a limited data plan. It happens, sometimes we forget to turn off the mobile data or disconnect the PC from Internet, but by following some procedure of proper data usages, we can minimize the loss.
For Android and iOS phones, there are tons of data usage managers. But in the case of Windows PC, you can do the savings by following some simple steps. I have got some best tips and suggestion for efficient data usage for Windows PC.
Also Read: 7 Best Internet Speed Test Tools to Check Your Internet Speed
Contents
- How to Optimize Windows 10 for Not Eating Data When You Are on a Limited Data Plan?
- 1. Make Changes in Windows Update Setting
- 2. Monitor Data While Surfing on Google Chrome(Data Saver)
- 3. Save and Limit Data Usage While Tethering(on Windows 8/8.1/10)
- 4. Use Web Browser that Compress Web Contents
- 5. Dealing with Multimedia Content
- The Pro Review from TechReviewPro
How to Optimize Windows 10 for Not Eating Data When You Are on a Limited Data Plan?
For Windows PCs users(Win 7/8/8.1/10):
Follow these simple steps to avoid it and for the efficient data usage on a limited data plan on PC:
1. Make Changes in Windows Update Setting
The first thing you can do is, make changes in Windows update settings. Microsoft recommends “installing updates automatically,” but sometimes some bugs are introduced and could create a problem in features working fine before. So, we should always search for the updates before installing them and should not install useless updates.
So I recommend choosing,“Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.” This will help you to save some internet data balance also by not downloading some useless updates.
But remember, never turn off the Windows update, it could lead to some security threat.
Follow the step to make changes in Windows update setting.
a) Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update > Turn automatic updating on or off. As marked in the image below:
b) Now on change settings window, click on the combo box and select the “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” option.
c) Click on the OK button.
Here in the image below, I have kept the auto update off for some days, and this was the result(not recommended, I did it for educational purpose).
2. Monitor Data While Surfing on Google Chrome(Data Saver)
While browsing in Google Chrome, you can monitor your data and could save it too by adding an extension named ‘Data Saver.’ It helps users to reduce the demand for PC’s bandwidth(Definition of PC’s Bandwidth- The amount of data transmitted in a fixed amount of time).
Follow these simple steps to add an extension in Google Chrome:
a) Open Google Chrome browser on your PC and click on ‘customize and control google chrome’ button present at the extreme right side of the search bar.
b) The Dialog box will appear, then select More tools>Extension.
c) Click on ‘Get more extensions’ link.
d) It will open the ‘Chrome web store’. Then type ‘Data Saver’ in the search bar present at the left side.
e) Click on ‘Add to Chrome’ button as given in the image below.
f) It will be automatically added as an Extension. You can see in More tools>Extension. As shown in the picture below:
g) To see the Extension in action, click on the Data Saver button present at the right side of the search bar.
3. Save and Limit Data Usage While Tethering(on Windows 8/8.1/10)
When you connect your PC to your phone for sharing the mobile data(tethering), you should always keep an eye on the data usage by the PC, and you can also set a meter connection. When you set your connection as metered, then your PC will not download any updates, App or sync file on One-drive. Thus it will save your phone’s data.
Follow the simple steps to set your connection as metered:
a) Click on the network icon from the taskbar present at the bottom right corner. A charming bar will appear. Select the network with which you are connected and Right click on it.
b) As can see in the image above, now from there choose ‘Set as metered connection’ there you go, now your connection is metered.
c) To check the data usage, click on ‘show estimated data usage’ option present just over the ‘Set as metered connection’ option. Then it will look like as in the image given below:
4. Use Web Browser that Compress Web Contents
Some web browsers come with a feature of shrinking the web pages by compressing the contents such as images or any other part of it. Opera browser for PC comes with the feature called Opera Turbo which is helpful in saving the data. You can also speed up your slow connection using it. But Opera browser does not compress the secure sites enabling you viewing your secured data without any modifications on the page.
Also Read: What are the Best Free No WiFi Games to Play Without WiFi?
5. Dealing with Multimedia Content
The multimedia content(images, videos, audios, etc.) of any website consumes the maximum data. You can either disable it or keep the quality ‘normal.’ Many sites can be accessed without it.
While watching a video on video sharing website like YouTube, keep the video quality below 720p, even 360p is also good quality, and you will be able to see the details at 480p or 360p. It saves a significant amount of data.
You can disable the image from any website if not necessary. For example, On Google Chrome: click on ‘Customize and control Google Chrome’ button present at the extreme right side of the search bar >Settings>’show advanced setting’ at the bottom>content setting>select ‘Do not show any images.’
On Internet Explorer: Click on Tools icon on the extreme right >Internet Options>click on Advance tab >Scroll down to ‘Multimedia’ >deselect ‘Show Pictures’.
Also Read: 5 Best Free Browser Cleaner Tools to Clean Your Web Browser for Speed
The Pro Review from TechReviewPro
That’s it! Saving the internet data and proper data usage is really an important thing for all the internet users. As we have seen the 5 simple steps to keep in mind while browsing which is necessary for the proper consumption of data on Windows PCs.
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