Noob windows 8 (and 8.1) question

[RoyZ]

Hi

I have just formated my notebook and I am trying windos 8 (8.1 actually) for the first time, I had never used windows 8 before.

So right as it starts it goes to the "Metro" screen right. My noob question is: Does it keep using your internet all the time for those apps that it shows in the metro screen? You know what I mean? Theres a weather thing, theres store, news, and stuff. If I'm on desktop, does those things keep using my connection constantly or is it just when I go to the Metro screen? Or not even then?

[BC_Programmer]

So right as it starts it goes to the "Metro" screen right. My noob question is: Does it keep using your internet all the time for those apps that it shows in the metro screen? You know what I mean? Theres a weather thing, theres store, news, and stuff. If I'm on desktop, does those things keep using my connection constantly or is it just when I go to the Metro screen? Or not even then?

Live tiles only update when the Start Screen is open. And even then usually they have their own caching that avoids network activity. eg. the 'Weather' app isn't going to retrieve weather information every time you open the start screen; only at most say every 2 or 3 minutes.

[Geek-9pm]

The implication is that the Metro scene could use more of your bandwidth quota. One could wish that is not the case. But  how do we know for sure?

No, I did not make this up. People have been asking that question for some time. The perception is that Windows 8 does, somehow, use more bandwidth. Now for users with no bandwidth quanta,  it does not matter.

Here is one of many posts about this:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=350431
One poster said:

... now it's no longer consuming any bandwidth. I've turned off all the live tiles. Maybe they were causing it. Anyways I'm just glad it stopped the havoc  ...

Key phrase:
Win 8 eating  bandwidth

Another:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/ceac33dc-0790-41a0-a825-526d5571e8a8/windows-8-constantly-downloading

[BC_Programmer]

The implication is that the Metro scene could use more of your bandwidth quota. One could wish that is not the case. But  how do we know for sure?

The difference between my post and your post is I actually verified that what I said matched my observations on Windows 8.1. I launched resource monitor and the svchost.exe process responsible for live tiles only exhibited network activity when I had the start screen open and showing; and even then it was spurious. an idle Firefox process was using 10 times more bandwidth than all live tiles combined at any given time.

No, I did not make this up. People have been asking that question for some time. The perception is that Windows 8 does, somehow, use more

Live tiles use bandwidth. This is not surprising.

Live tiles. These are visible in Task Manager's "App History" view, which allows you to see all the network activity used by the various apps. Live tile updates (eg the weather tile) would log as network activity for that tile's App.

[Geek-9pm]

I also did my research BC. I found what other people had said.
As it stands now, Windows 8 takes up more bandwidth than earlier versions of Windows. Now if anyone has lots of bandwidth, it would not matter. Or would it?

Using a resource needlessly is, by any definition, bad design. 

To illustrate. What if everybody left all the lights on at night while they sleep, because they don't care about the wast?

Some people leave their computers s on all night.  So that means every so often live apps will 'ping' home and consume some bandwidth.  How much? Little? Very little?  Teeny  weeny?  Curious minds need to know.

[Allan]

I also did my research BC. I found what other people had said.

The information you are posting is anecdotal. The information BC is posting is verified by him. Please stop arguing in this thread. Thank you.

[RoyZ]

Ok so I learned a few things here. Those stuff I was talking about are called "live tiles" and you can disable them. Alright.

I was asking this is not worried about the windows 8.1 on my notebook but because my brother is a major online gaming fanatic, and he is thinking about going for windows 8.1 on his gaming PC, but he is worried about bandwich consumption once he saw that metro screen on my notebook. He  can't speak very well english so he asked me to find some information about this. He thinks those "live tiles" things will make his ms (ping) go higher during online play.

[BC_Programmer]

As it stands now, Windows 8 takes up more bandwidth than earlier versions of Windows.

Alright. This puts you in a position to do two things.

First: you need to back that statement up with actual evidence. The links you posted are to people having bandwidth problems. This does not mean Windows 8 implicitly uses more bandwidth; you can find equivalent posts for any Windows System, going back to at least XP.

Then, you'll have to explain why my observations directly contradict the statement you've made.

A tall order on both counts.

Using a resource needlessly is, by any definition, bad design. 

This is yet another false premise. The network transfers performed by Live tiles are done to refresh their display; eg. the Mail Tile would update to show new E-mails. This is no different than already present software; Microsoft Outlook and Windows Live Mail will both do the same thing if kept running.

Also of note is that those Live tile callbacks are not called unless the Start Screen is active.

Some people leave their computers s on all night.  So that means every so often live apps will 'ping' home and consume some bandwidth.  How much? Little? Very little?  Teeny  weeny?  Curious minds need to know.

The implication here being essentially that no other application that runs on 7 or earlier would ever perform network transfers during idle time.

A foolish and demonstrably false assessment.

Ok so I learned a few things here. Those stuff I was talking about are called "live tiles" and you can disable them. Alright.

If you are on the desktop or running a desktop application they will not update. I don't think they would update when running a window store app, Either.

but he is worried about bandwich consumption once he saw that metro screen on my notebook. He  can't speak very well english so he asked me to find some information about this. He thinks those "live tiles" things will make his ms (ping) go higher during online play.

The Live tiles use less bandwidth than pretty much everything else I have running that uses the network. Even when Firefox is sitting and doing nothing it's using 10 times as much as the Live Tiles while they are active.
The Logging I have goes on since I installed my system. The total bandwidth since the 18th of March is a grand total of 50MB used by all my Live tiles.

I find it exceedingly unlikely that Live Tiles would cause network latency.

[strollin]

If you're worried about how much data is used by Live Tiles you can turn the Live Tiles off or you can set your connection to indicate it's a "metered connection" which will limit not only the data used by Live Tiles but also will restrict things like Windows Updates to only downloading critical updates.

Win 8: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-enable-metered-wi-fi-connections-in-windows-8/

Win 8.1: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/metered-internet-connections-frequently-asked-questions

[Geek-9pm]

strollin,
Good links. Thanks.

Ed Rhee/CNET
One of the new features of Windows 8 is metered wireless connections. In the past, you could run Windows programs to monitor your data usage , but they didn't do anything to actually reduce data usage. With mobile hot spot and broadband card usage on the rise and unlimited data plans nearing extinction, every kilobyte of bandwidth saved is a penny earned. Enabling metering in Windows 8 will limit your PC or tablet's data usage by preventing nonessential data transfers.

This implicates Windows 8 could be butter or worse with regard to bandwidth.

[patio]

Probably butter...