From Leo's mailbag:
> From: A Computer User
> Sent: February 23, 2010
> To: Ask Leo!
> Subject: 700MB per day more than expected
>
> Leo,
> I'm running a small network (4 computers and a server) and
> we were recently alerted (via a $700 internet bill!) to the
> fact that something is downloading in the vacinity of 700MB
> a day more than expected. This has only been occurring for
> the past month (around the time I bought 2 new computers
> Dell touch screens running 64 bit Vista, I have also loaded
> these with Office 2010 Beta). The ISP says it is coming from
> Akamai Technologies who are responsible for automatic
> updates. I googled this and they do provide Adobe updates
> but I still don't understand how or why the amount is so
> high (unless there is a virus that has made it through the
> router and the Anti-virus/software firewall). It was even
> doing it on weekends when the server was the only thing
> switched on (Office 2010 is also on the server because we
> access it remotely).
>
> As a result I've reluctantly turned off automatic updates
> for windows but cannot even see the Adobe updater software.
> The computers are running either XP or Vista, the server is
> running Small Business Server 2003 and I plan to upgrade to
> Windows 7 soon. I was hoping if there is a virus the upgrade
> will remove it but is it possible that something is
> automatically updating that really is using this amount? It
> seems unreasonable for companies to expect people to be able
> to afford to spend that much on their internet access just
> for updates. Or could it be something in the new touch
> screen software or Office 2010?
Akamai is a general purpose content provider, so it could be
many things (many companies use them to host/distribute large
content). The confusing part is that they're "legitimate" - in
that I don't know of them hosting anything that could be
terms malicious or questionable.
700MB a day does seem a lot. (Though spread across 7 machines
it's only 100MB each, which might not seem that large.) Per
day seems also a lot, since updates rarely happen more than
once a week or even less.
One thing that might be worth checking is your anti-malware
tools. They will update daily, and 7 machines each with 2
anti-malware tools (anti-spyware and anti-virus) updating
daily might start pushing your limits.
Sorry I don't have anything more specific to look at...
Thanks for asking,
Leo Notenboom