serious problem..... need help

grandpaw

Senior Member
For years I have had a data plan for my internet of 300 gigs a month and it has been fine. I have been staying under my limit of 10 gigs per day with uploading being being about one gig a day or none at all. From December 26th on the uploads alone have jumped to 12 to 15 gigs a day not counting the downloads which have pretty much stayed the same as they have always been. I have changed the password on my router and that made no difference. I am now using about 20 not 30 gigs a day which is way over my limit. We did not add any new electronics at Christmas time. I did get a new iMac but that was back in November and this problem only started on December 26th. I am not real computer savvy but if anyone can suggest something to check it would be greatly appreciated.
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
That is rough the only times i have been on metered was if i used a dongle,i got into the habit of disconecting it when not in use.
Just wondered if there is an app you could download to show the times of your usage.
 

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Have you gone with Lightroom CC when the upgrade came along. This is the version that uploads all your work to the cloud and stocks it there? I know that LR Classic doesn't do that and just keep my file on my computer.Or could it be that your backups are going into the cloud?
Just a thought.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Do you have a Wifi network setup and, if you do, has it been secured with a strong password?

There is free monitoring software you can install that should help you identify all outbound data transfers.
 
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todd7500

Senior Member
Soooo
Did anything new get added around your house over the holidays? Printer? Roku? Google Chrome-cast Dongle? Laptop? Tablet(s)?

I think Marcel might be onto something with Cloud Based vampires!
 

SkvLTD

Senior Member
Apple smells like iCloud that it wants to automatically back everything onto while you have space remaining there.
 

grandpaw

Senior Member
Have you gone with Lightroom CC when the upgrade came along. This is the version that uploads all your work to the cloud and stocks it there? I know that LR Classic doesn't do that and just keep my file on my computer.Or could it be that your backups are going into the cloud?
Just a thought.

I don't remember when I put photoshop cc on my new computer but I think it has been in the last couple of weeks. The cloud on my iPhone said that I only had 5gigs of space and it was full. Somehow I think this is tied together and it has something to do with uploading to the cloud. I don't know how to check and see if that is the problem but I do know that this is really making my blood presser go up. I am bound and determined to get this figured out.
 

grandpaw

Senior Member
My new iMac has two, one terabyte drives in it and I have two three terabyte external drives for backup and do not want to use the cloud. I really think this is my problem but I am not 100% sure if it is or how to fix it.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I don't remember when I put photoshop cc on my new computer but I think it has been in the last couple of weeks. The cloud on my iPhone said that I only had 5gigs of space and it was full. Somehow I think this is tied together and it has something to do with uploading to the cloud. I don't know how to check and see if that is the problem but I do know that this is really making my blood presser go up. I am bound and determined to get this figured out.
It sounds to me like what you need is a network monitoring application. I'm sure there are several that would tell you what's going on with your network traffic but I'm not a Mac/OSX guy so I can't make a recommendation.
 

LouCioccio

Senior Member
Have you used Activity Monitor app its in the Utility Folder of the Applications folder this may show what is accessing the internet. In System Preferences; depending how your mac is set up look for a cog wheel in the dock or go to the Black Apple upper left and click and select System Preferences to see if iCloud has any selections for a back up.
Mac OS X will offer strong passwords that you can keep in your keychain (encrypted). Also do you use any Virus checking software at our club we recommend Mac Users to get Sophos Free for the Mac. Although mac's may not get viruses they are susceptible to Trojans and Malware.

Next to be doubly safe set up an Administrator i.e. Admin with a selected password that Mac can give. Log into the Admin and in System Preferences select Users and change YOU to a standard user. Any time anything changes or you add new software you will have the administrator do it. A pop up will come up asking for the admin and password. This way if malware or trojan canon change any thing from your account as it needs the password and user name from the admins account. Yes its a PITA but you will be safe.

On the wifi router to make yourself and any other machine safe using your wifi you can do a double check by adding the Machine Access Code aka MAC address for each machine in the wifi router. Some routers will have a Guest mode but they will not be able to access your network of computers but only the internet.

In Erie we have two computer clubs that are active and that helps windows, mac, linux and even android users not sure if you have a computer club like that. We had a fellow from Avast give us talk about computer security and he had just came up from Pittsburg and said our club had more members than the one in Pittsburg, PA. We did talk about that when we took him to dinner.

Lou Cioccio
 

grandpaw

Senior Member
We figured it out!!!!!!!!

My son came over and ran the activity monitor on my iMac and determined that any time my mail program was on it was constantly sending out data. This DID NOT show up in the SENT FILE of my MAIL program. When we watched the activity monitor we could actually see the megabytes increasing steadily. He removed all my email addresses, rebooted the computer and re-installed my email addresses and the activity monitor no longer shows activity.
 

J-see

Senior Member
Can you check if your email got hijacked and is used for spam?

If that's the case you should change all passwords too.
 

spb_stan

Senior Member
Good detective work. You picked up a client that was using your account for massive spam forwarding so don't be surprised if some email recipient's ISPs have your IP address blocked.
The two things other than hijacking that really run up data usable are cloud apps that automatically back up everything to the cloud. Be wary of cloud backup particularly if business or creative work is uploaded. Terms of Service gives them a license for use of your photos.Facebook and Google both license your photos through stock image companies. They have the hi res versions so those become income streams for them and not you.


Another killer of bandwidth is Windows 10 and the later versions of Mac OS that generate constant uploading of all your activity on the computer. There are about 70 apps running in background communicating with MS about every search, keystroke and web page. MS and Apple got jealous of FB and Google who both compile massive amounts of data about you, your activities, friends etc and sell it or give it to the government. That is their main income stream. Now Microsoft has gotten into the action by monetizing your entire life. Using any social media or modern operating system other than Linux means you have zero privacy and that information is shared with all who buy it or its given to governments. Every email, social media post or IM goes into your record and AI applications read and analyze the content. Even your photos are analyzed to identify anyone in the photos. All this takes lots of data transmission in the background. Some countries are fighting back and blocking these privacy violations. I know here in Russia it is illegal to gather and store personal information about citizens by foreign entities. They have been battling FBI in court for some time with threats or banning FB over gross privacy violations so FB has tried workarounds to gather that info but not directly. As Snowden says, if you want privacy disconnect from the web entirely, otherwise every bit of data is vacuumed up and every phone call is captured by the NSA, for the entire world's data networks. You are the most spied on and monitored people in history. That law that permitted total surveillance was just renewed by Congress without debate yesterday.
 
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