Do you want to cut down your Internet data usage? If so this article is for you. This article explains a few simple yet effective tips to reduce bandwidth usage on your Mac. In order to be able to use some tips explained here, your Mac should be running macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or later. Bandwidth refers to the total amount of information that has been transferred from your computer to another over a computer network or internet connection. Applying this tip may help you prevent going over your data plan.
Here is how to reduce Internet data usage (bandwidth)
Nov 27, 2018 But if you want the details from a computer, like for monitoring the used bandwidth, we need to enter the credentials of the device. Select the device and go to the settings tab. Scroll down to Credentials for Windows systems (or Mac) and fill in the details. Just enter the computer name and the login from an admin account.
If you are concerned with data usage or network bandwidth, you may want to try the tips below:
1-This tip involves enabling Content Caching. Content Caching is a macOS feature. What this feature does is to save content on your Mac that your Mac (and other local networked devices, like iOS devices Apple TV etc) already downloaded.
- Click Apple menu
- Click System Preferences
- Click Sharing
- On the left, you will see a list of services, select Content Caching.
- Then you have to restart your devices.
You can view how much cached content that local networked devices have uploaded and downloaded over time by going to Activity Monitor.
2-Disable Automatic Software Update. On your computer, go to System Preferences > Software Update. And uncheck the “automatically keep my Mac up to date” box. You will have to enter your password.
Furthermore, open App Store on your Mac. Then go to App Store > Preferences and then uncheck the “Automatic Updates” box so that your Mac will not download and install app updates automatically. You may also want to uncheck the “Video Autoplay” box so that your Mac will not play app preview videos automatically.
Network Traffic Monitor For Mac
Turning off automatic updates will prevent your Mac from downloading updates in the background. However it is a good idea to check for updates periodically.
3-Make sure that your Wi-Fi networks are secured because you need to keep your neighbors out of your business. Also make sure that your Wi-Fi networks is protected with WPA2 (Wireless Protected Access 2, a wireless security protocol). If you are currently using WEP or WPA, change it to WPA2. Make sure that your Wi-Fi router and wireless adapter support this. Also make sure that you use a strong password that nobody can guess. Please see this documentation for more information.
See also: How To Disable Wi-Fi Auto-Join in macOS
4-You can easily monitor how much data your Mac is sending or receiving. Simply open Activity Monitor (Applications > Utilities) on your Mac, and click the Network tab. This will give you ideas regarding which app or processes are using too much bandwidth.
5-Turn off My Photo Stream. You may want to disable My Photo Stream on your Mac. On your Mac, go to System Preferences > iCloud, click the Options button next to Photos, and uncheck My Photo Stream. My Photo Stream imports your recent photos and disabling this may help you reduce bandwidth. (See also: Cannot Download Photo?). On your Mac, you can go to Photos > Albums > My Photo Stream to see your photos in My Photo Stream.
Maintaining fast upload and download speed keeps work, emails, games and videos playing smoothly. So keeping an eye on that is pretty important, which you can do with a Mac network monitor.
There aren't a huge number of tools that can help you do this. Buried deep within Terminal is the command net stat; although this isn’t ideal as it can overload you with data. If you want something easier to use, to manage and monitor network speed and bandwidth, there are a couple options available which we outline below.
How to monitor network bandwidth?
#1: Use Activity Monitor
Activity Monitor, built into macOS will give you a rough overview of which apps are using your network connection, along with upload and download speed.
- Go to Applications > Utilities
- Or type Activity Monitor into Spotlight Search, or ask Siri.
- Activity Monitor is within Utilities and shows CPU, battery and network usage, amongst other useful monitoring processes.
- Now go to the Network tab.
- This shows various apps and processes and the impact they have on network bandwidth.
- Click on Sent Bytes and rank from highest to lowest to see which apps are using more bandwidth than others.
- There are also other columns which show the amount of data apps are receiving.
- To reduce the amount of bandwidth currently in use, go to the apps absorbing most of the network data available and close them if they're not in use (you may have left apps open that are taking up more data than you realize).
Another way, especially if you would prefer more proactive monitoring, is with CleanMyMac X.
#2: Check your real internet speed with CleanMyMac
Downloading CleanMyMac X is not a cure-all for everything that can go wrong with a Mac, but it can solve a lot of problems. Including getting your Mac to run faster, monitoring network bandwidth, and improving your online and in-app user experience.
The feature I’m constantly using is the CleanMyMac X Menu monitor. It sits in status bar of my Mac.
There’s a section called “Network” and this is where you can test your internet speed. Now you’ll find out if your internet provider is telling you the truth.
Download CleanMyMac X Free Edition here.
After you install the app, click on the iMac icon in the status bar to launch the Menu. This feature, internet speed test, is absolutely free.
Now, this is how CleanMyMac X can improve internet speed:
Network Bandwidth Monitoring Software Mac Download
- Start with using the Privacy feature: Use this to clear caches, delete old internet data, and clear out unused Wi-Fi connections and other settings that are slowing your Mac down;
- Next, run Maintenance scripts with this app (another handy feature), to get your systems and browsers to operate more quickly.
- Another feature worth using if internet speed still needs speeding up is to check what system junk and other clutter is slowing your Mac down.
- Run a Smart Scan to clear anything out that is taking up processing power. You might find your Mac’s network connection is a lot better after that.
Free Home Network Monitoring Software
CleanMyMac X is worth downloading. It’s a powerful Mac support and improvement app, getting your Mac running as good as new, hopefully with a faster, smoother internet connection.