I am currently struggling with an appallingly slow internet speed.
In trying to resolve this I came across a Youtube video that claims that Windows 10 reserves 80% of internet bandwidth for the system, and shows you how to change this.
The video quality is worse than poor, but I worked out that it's through gpedit.msc then Administrative Templates then Network.
I wasn't able to try this as my laptop doesn't recognise gpedit.msc but does anyone know if this is correct (that bandwidth is significantly restricted by the system) and, if so, is it possible to change the setting to free up bandwidth?
Hi, never heard that one. There is the very well known setting from the earliest days to stop your PC redistributing (uploading) updates to other PCs.
Normally there's almost nothing happening on my connection when my PC is idle.
Windows update deals with- well- updates, and Windows Defender updates if in use.
Universal apps will maintain their data as applicable (you have some control of which run in the background in Settings.
Universal apps are updated on a 4 hourly schedule.
Hope that helps.
That is a myth, dating back to XP days. The claim that was that 20% was reserved. Actually 20% bandwidth (by default) can be reserved by QOS aware applications. Windows does not do this. But even then this only happens if they are actively using it. Otherwise 100% of bandwidth is available for applications.
How do you define slow? Slow loading webpages could be fixed by cleaning various caches and changing DNS.I am currently struggling with an appallingly slow internet speed.
CCleaner - Builds
How to Switch to OpenDNS or Google DNS to Speed Up Web Browsing
1. What is your supposed internet speed provided by your ISP provider?
2. What is your real internet speed? Check at and copy URL with the result.
3. How are you connected to the internet? Cable or WiFi? Do you use a router? What AV and firewall do you have?
No. As LMiller7 states, Windows *can* reserve 20% of bandwidth (leaving 80% for normal operations) in some conditions, primarily for Windows Update. This is not a constant 20%, only when Windows Update is downloading. Other apps can reserve this bandwidth as well, but they are not normal apps people would typically run (for instance, a VOIP client might do this to reserve enough bandwidth to ensure call quality is good).
Sorry for my original post seeming a little vague, @TairikuOkami, but I was really looking for an answer to the specific query not a solution to the problem on this occasion, strange as it may seem.How do you define slow? Slow loading webpages could be fixed by cleaning various caches and changing DNS.
CCleaner - Builds
How to Switch to OpenDNS or Google DNS to Speed Up Web Browsing
1. What is your supposed internet speed provided by your ISP provider?
2. What is your real internet speed? Check at and copy URL with the result.
3. How are you connected to the internet? Cable or WiFi? Do you use a router? What AV and firewall do you have?
Reason is I am house sitting for a friend and using her satellite internet. We had some bad weather earlier this week which may have knocked something out, but I don't want to get into trying to sort things with her ISP as she's back on Sunday.
I have already tried CCleaner, and the speedtest, which was a staggering 0.08mps for download (it got up to 0.24 once though). I have no idea what speed she should be getting but I can't deal with the ISP to sort this out as I have none of her details.
I was just curious about this video talking about the 80% retention. It did seem to show a setting mentioning 80% but as the screenshot was blurry I can't verify that. I have actually seen a few people making a similar claim and recommendation.
I will look into the DNS options you mentioned though, as this is something I can try on my laptop without affecting her system.
Many thanks for your suggestions
