Control Windows Update bandwidth to work with other apps


Each time Windows downloads updates it takes up all the bandwitdth so that practically you may not be able to do anything online, although you stay connected of course. A solution to this would be to work on tasks that are irrelevant with the internet, even just go and make some coffee! However, if you do need the internet during Windows Update, there is a way to control the bandwidth allocated to this service, without even using a specialized application.

Go to the Windows Control Panel and in the search box write the word “group”. In the Search Results, under the “Administrative Tools” heading you’ll see an option to “Edit group policy”. Go there, then to “Administrative Templates” > “Network” > “Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)” > “Limit the maximum network bandwidth for BITS background transfers”.

In the dialogue that opens check the “Enabled” option, then go to “Limit background transfer rate (kbps) to”. Enter a value, such as 100 or 200 kbps according to your maximum bandwidth and how much you’d like dedicated to Windows Update.

You can even define a particular time, when usually a Windows Update occurs, so that at all other times the available bandwidth will be unlimited or different.

Enjoy!