On several occasions, I have subscribed an amount of data for my PC, and carefully calculated how long the subscription would last me. Sadly, it finishes in no distant time, and this usually leaves me devastated.
I am pretty sure a lot of people could relate to this as this could be caused by background processes auto-updating, downloading or uploading without your knowledge.
If this is you, and you desperately want to prevent your laptop or desktop PC from sucking such a large amount of data, then this software known as GlassWire is the best solution.
Stay with me!
All You Need To Know About GlassWire
Sadly, most of the “Unlimited” plans provided by Internet Service Providers do not literally translate to unlimited data usage as they have a certain amount of data assigned to each user, and once you exhaust yours, you will be disconnected from the internet.
That being said, it has become very important to monitor the amount of data you use so as to know how much is left as this will guide you on how to use your data going forward.
If you don’t know how to go about this, this article is for you as we will tell you all you need to know about GlassWire – a help in data distress.
An Overview Of GlassWire
First, note that GlassWire is one of the top third-party firewall applications for the Windows Operating System.
A lot of folks know it to be an application that offers additional protection to your Windows computer, and safeguards it from external threats, however,it is more than this.
It is a great tool that can be used to monitor your bandwidth and data usage.
Upon downloading this app, the first thing you will see once you open it is a graph showing all of your computer’s network activity in real time.
This is to say that the information on the graph is updated every single second thereby giving you the most recent information on your network activity – the amount of data that has entered into your computer and gone out of your computer in the past month, week, or even day.
Aside from the usage tab showing the amount of data that both incoming connections and outgoing connections have used, it also narrows down to individual apps and programs.
So, you can take a look at the amount of bandwidth and data you have spent on each app, know the hosts and servers they are connecting to and even show you what kind of traffic it is, if you are interested.
Interestingly, you can download GlassWire for free, and once you do that, go ahead and install it, and then run the application.
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Functions Of GlassWire
1. Visual Network Monitoring
Displays a graphical picture showing all your past and current data usage.
2. Internet Security
Features competent security tools such as device list change detection, system file change detection, ARP spoofing monitoring, app info change detection, and the rest.
3. Network Time Machine
This allows you to view your network activity for a particular period of time.
4. Discreet Alerts
The notifications sent concerning your data usage are usually not invasive.
5. Bandwidth Usage Monitor
Monitors your daily, weekly and monthly bandwidth usage.
6. Remote Server Monitoring
Your server network activities are being monitored remotely.
7. Internet Privacy Protection
Your applications are being monitored to identify the ones using your bandwidth, the servers such apps are connected to as well as the location of such servers
8. Ask to connect
In case of new connections by GlassWire, you are required to approve or decline.
9. Lock down mode
You can disconnect all network connectivity, so that no application will be able to download or upload anything in your absence.
10. Mini Graph
The essence of this small graph on your desktop is to monitor the full GlassWire application even without opening it. Thankfully, it’s always on your desktop
11. Webcam And Mic Detection
Once any application is making use of your PC’s mic or webcam, you will be notified, and one of the benefits of this is that it protects you from hackers trying to record your private moments.
12. Finds Out Who Is On Your Wi-Fi Or Network
In case you are wondering the number of devices connected to your Wi-Fi network, GlassWire has the answer to this question.
Click the Firewall to find out the list of applications presently connected to the internet.
Once you find out, any application you click will be blocked access to the internet, and you can confirm that it has been denied access to the internet when you see the red flame by the side of it.
Other Ways To Monitor Your Live / Real-Time Data Usage
Aside from GlassWire, there are other ways to monitor your live data / bandwidth usage, all active applications and how much data they have consumed.
Take a look at some of them below:
1. Use your Internet Service Provider’s web interface
If there are 100 Internet Service Providers, 95 of them including Internet Service Providers whose “Unlimited” internet plans actually have data caps and are limited have a web interface or web portal tailor-made for their customers.
Within the web interface is a portal that has an area dedicated specifically to the amount of data you have used.
That being said, you can easily monitor the amount of data you have used by simply accessing your ISP’s web interface and search for this area as therein lies the statistics of your monthly data usage.
Don’t be confused as the name of this area will have either the term data or the word usage or even both.
However, the disadvantage of using this method to monitor your bandwidth is that it doesn’t provide you with real-time statistics because most ISPs only update their web interface with new data usage statistics once or twice a day.
2. Use DD-WRT
The DD-WRT is one of the top ways through which you can monitor the data transfer capacity of all the devices connected to a specific internet network and not just your own computer.
Before all the devices on your personal internet network can access the internet, they have to be connected to your router, so DD-WRT, a program or a third-party router firmware achieves this by monitoring the packets of data sent through the internet by the router itself, not just by a single computer or phone.
This way, it has complete information on how much internet is being used on your internet network.
Below are the steps involved in using DD-WRT to monitor the bandwidth and data usage of your entire network:
Step 1: Search for your router and download DD-WRT for it.
Step 2: Install DD-WRT.
Step 3: Access the DD-WRT web interface, and navigate to the Status
Step 4: Click on Bandwidth. This is where you will see numbers that have to do with the amount of data that has entered, and sent out of your internet network through your router.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does GlassWire consume data?
The GlassWire app consumes no data and is incapable of sending or receiving any data on its own. Even if we wanted to, we could not access your data usage or app usage information because it never leaves your phone. If you have any questions, kindly refer to our privacy statement or contact us via email.
Does GlassWire monitor the entire network?
GlassWire has some comprehensive network monitoring tools even though it is primarily an endpoint monitor. GlassWire has a significant network monitor feature we refer to as the “Things” tab. You can use this function to see every device connected to your network and receive notifications when a brand-new, unidentified device joins.
Is GlassWire an application based firewall?
GlassWire is a firewall-integrated network monitoring and security solution. It offers capabilities like bandwidth use monitoring, remote server monitoring, internet privacy protection, and internet security.
Is GlassWire a VPN?
GlassWire’s Android VPN does not transmit all of your data to our servers, thus we can in no way track you using this app.
Instead, our program acts as a local VPN on your phone, blackholing (networking) the apps you block into it so they can’t call out.
Is GlassWire a one time payment?
We offer annual subscriptions for GlassWire so you may keep receiving free feature updates as we update our software.
You will never be charged an upgrade fee or be denied access to a GlassWire upgrade while a subscriber to GlassWire.
How do you stop GlassWire?
Disable GlassWire for Android notifications by selecting “options” and “alerts” from the menu in the bottom right corner of the app.
Then, using those options, you can either entirely block that type of notification or disable any notifications you don’t want to send to Android’s notification system.
Does GlassWire have a free version?
Yes, you can keep an eye on your data usage with our totally free Windows and Android apps.
Is GlassWire on Linux?
Although GlassWire is not available for Linux, there are some similar-functioning alternatives.
Conclusion
Having tried all these methods, and you are not able to resolve the issue, I suggest you use the Restoro Repair Tool that has the ability to scan the repositories to replace corrupt and missing files, especially in cases where the issue is as a result of system corruption.
That being said, I believe this article has provided you with all you need to know about GlassWire as well as other methods that you can use to monitor your data usage.
