Windows uses your bandwidth to deliver Updates to other people – Here’s how to stop that:
Windows Update Delivery Optimization (WUDO) is critical to Microsoft and its customers. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia “Microsoft Windows is generally above 70% in most markets and at 77% to 87.8% globally. Apple’s macOS is at around 9.6% to 13%”
This means that Microsoft has a big responsibility to keep Windows up to date which it does in the form of Windows Updates. These include fixes to the software as well as security updates and then more updates to the previous updates which is didn’t get right the first time. Rinse and repeat.
In order to make it easy for its users to get the Windows Updates, Microsoft realized that not everyone is on a nice fast internet connection. Therefore it developed the Windows Update Delivery Optimization system.
What is Windows Update Delivery Optimization?
When your computer discovers there are new updates, depending on your setting, it would typically begin to download the software. This software can be downloaded from Microsoft, or from “PCs on my local network, and PCs on the Internet”
Sharing Windows Updates with other computers on your local network makes sense. There is no reason for every single computer to download the entire Window Update set repeatedly using the bandwidth. This is especially important if your internet connection is slow and/ or capped.
How does WUDO Impact you?
It is worth noting that Windows doesn’t download the entire file from one place. Windows sources various bits of the software from various sources around your network and from other PCs on the internet. It then assembles all the parts on your computer before you can install it.
Therefore, your computer could be part of that distribution network which means that you are giving up bandwidth when other people get bits of their updates from you.
You might not like that.
Now in all fairness, the bandwidth management is done intelligently so you probably wouldn’t even notice.
How to Customize your Windows Update Delivery Optimization options?
There are several options for you to customize but it all starts here:
- Open the Windows Settings
- Click on Update & Security
- Click on Delivery Optimization on the left menu
- If you would like to not download updated from other computers, then disable the “Allow downloads from other PCs”
- You can also choose to allow updates from PCs on your local network or allow PCs on your local network AND PCs on the internet
- Click on Advanced options
- Here you can set the bandwidth that you will allow for both downloading your own updates and for the bandwidth you allow for the upload to other PCs
