Sunday, August 2, 2015

Windows 10 Uses Peer-to-Peer for Software Updates: You Might Want to Tell Your OS If You Have a Metered Connection

A feature of Windows 10 designed to provide faster downloads of app and feature updates is the use of a peer-to-peer protocol that could result in one user’s bandwidth being used by the update feature to send data to other users.

“In addition to downloading updates and apps from Microsoft, Windows will get updates and apps from other PCs that already have them,” Microsoft says.

“When Windows downloads an update or app, it will look for other PCs on your local network that have already downloaded the update or app using Delivery Optimization,” Microsoft say.
Windows then downloads parts of the file from those PCs and parts of the file from Microsoft.
As do other peer-to-peer file sharing networks, Windows uses the fastest, most reliable download source for each part of the file.

Delivery Optimization uses PCs on a local network and PCs on the Internet.

When Delivery Optimization is turned on, your PC sends parts of apps or updates that you’ve downloaded using Delivery Optimization to other PCs on your local network, or on the Internet, depending on your settings, Microsoft says.

As with Windows 8.1, Windows 10 won't automatically download updates or apps if it detects that your PC is using a metered connection.

Similarly, Delivery Optimization won’t automatically download or send parts of updates or apps to other PCs on the Internet if it detects that you're using a metered connection.

But you have to manually configure the “I’m using a metered connection” status.

If you use a Wi‑Fi connection that is metered or capped, make sure you identify it as a metered connection.

Go to Start Start button icon, then Settings > Network & Internet > Wi‑Fi > Advanced options. Use the toggle under Set as metered connection to set your Wi‑Fi connection as metered.

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