Per app bandwidth control/limitation/prioritization à la NetBalancer

Suggestions
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Loving your app :slight_smile: I know this is not just a small suggestion, but I would love a bandwidth control like NetBalancer for the paid version of GlassWire.

Especially when installed on multiple computers and thus be controllable from one.
Most consumer routers do not offer this option (limiting bandwidth per network device), especially not on a per application base. The packet prioritization is also sub par most of the time and not everyone wants to install an e.g. pfsense box at home :wink: I also love the option to manage the bandwidth for apps that don’t offer the option to limit the bandwidth unlike e.g. steam, dropbox etc where you can do it.

Add this and you have the holy grail of network control for me :smiley: And again, I know this is not an easy nor simple task to do, but it would fit in perfectly!

Thanks and keep up the awesome stuff you do!

Cheers,

J

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You aren’t the first person to request this feature. I think it’s a cool idea but I’m not sure how complicated it is, like you say.

We have been surprised how many people use GlassWire only to save data/bandwidth. Maybe we should focus more on the network and less on security features…

Perhaps some other GlassWire users can comment. Thanks!

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@Ken_GlassWire, you mention “save data/bandwidth” but per app control is primarily about performance, e.g. to make sure that a large download doesn’t “soak up” most of the bandwidth thereby increasing contention and latency.

I think both would be useful but not for me as I don’t need them because I have a 100/10 cable connection and no data cap on my broadband plan. But I know there is a large market for those features so if you can get them all in one you could sell a lot:

  1. WAN bandwidth measurement for capped Internet connections. Primarily to save money by making sure you don’t go over your cap. The best way to do it is with an inline gateway that traffic cannot avoid which means at the router or something similar. I used to run pfSense as either a router or logger on an old PC with dual NICs to get that. So the main issue I’d have with using GlassWire is that it won’t work very well unless you can install GlassWire on every device or you can see all the traffic at the Internet gateway (e.g. the router). It’s a bigger job because you’re effectively wanting to sniff every packet on the network. That is quite a significant extension of the scope of GlassWire which is currently focused on each computer it is installed on…
  2. App bandwidth limiting, i.e. traffic control/shaping, for limited Internet connections is primarily to make sure that applications don’t hog the Internet connection bandwidth. At the moment you’re looking at the apps and providing some basic metrics on the Firewall tab so it seems a better option to pursue first.

Incidentally, I mainly use GlassWire for information gathering to give me a snapshot of what is happening on my computers. I don’t use it for security management or bandwidth management although I have tried nearly every feature.

Edited to add omitted word: logger

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@Remah, very well explained :slight_smile: I only want to emphasize something what you already wrote.

To manage the whole network you need something like a dedicated pfsense or ipfire box (or whatever floats your boat), so I also think this is a little bit too much for now :wink:
But here is just a quick example for bandwidth shaping (one out of many): with my roughly 12mbit down and 1mbit up DSL connection, as soon as my media center pc (windows HTPC) is starting up netflix the ping gets super bad, gaming like e.g. cs:go isn’t possible, though the bandwidth is sufficient for both. with glasswire it would be no problem to quickly change the bandwidth usage on the HTPC, actually even without accessing it physically :wink:
Here is another first world problem. The Star Citizen Launcher hogs your internet connection like no other application in the galaxy ^^ To the point you get timeouts while surfing. It offers bandwidth control, but not very granular (800kb/s, 1.6mb/s, 5mb/s …).
With NetBalancer I was able to set limits way more granular. Also for large windows updates and so on, the list of use cases is endless. And in the end I had difficulties with NetBalancer why I decided after two years not to renew my license…yet. This is your chance!!! : D There are not many competitors out there at the moment! To be honest, that’s the only application I know of at the moment (for windows). Also I really dig your application style!

Cheers

EDIT: words

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Something like this:
cfos.de/en/cfosspeed/cfosspeed.htm

@Ken_GlassWire What security features do you have in the roadmap?

Another critical thing to improve is the CPU Consumption.

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I am one of those who requested similar services from Glasswire earlier. What follows is a concrete example of what it now takes me for full network data control.

Today I have a Verizon router which manages all traffic from a wireless antenna. Although it is a “full function” router including Ethernet ports, it only “logs” traffic (unidentified) and is not helpful in understanding throughput let alone managing it. It also has a relatively weak broadcast signal.

Because I’m on an expensive capped plan (30GB limit), overages are $10/GB and the Verizon website reports, while accurate, are typically a day late, I limit the Verizon router to only handling the gateway function. I added a front end Netgear R7000 (recent upgrade) which broadcasts a very strong signal, uses both 2.4 and 5GHz banks, and allows running Genie (Netgear router control) which provides excellent real-time throughput info.

Glasswire, however, provides me with specific information about any activity/application that uses large bandwidth so that I know exactly when and why Win10 hits me with a 3.5GB download. Fortunately, Win10 also provides a limited function “metered connection” control. But despite this control, Win10 can surprise us with large downloads at any time – so Glasswire is my only truly effective defense for controlling home network data usage.

Glasswire as developed today, can only monitor and detect info for PCs on which it is installed. To provide network bandwidth info/control, it would need to be able to access any router on the network – in general, an overwhelming task. Today, Glasswire can only report on a given subnet. To get full network management, it would have to detect activity on any network gateway – which in my case is outside the subnet. But yes, that’s what I want. :smile:

Incidently, Glasswire has also helped with numerous other “network” issues. With remote monitoring, I’m able to convince my wife when for some reason her usage dramatically increases. I was able to determine that despite being idle (but running normally), Netgear Genie constantly uploads a stream at the low MB level from one Win10 machine, but not the others. (That is the one machine that is participating in the Windows Insider program. Fix: shut off Genie on that machine when not in use.) I daily check for alerts on each machine for unusual activity and also check the total bandwidth for each machine. So I know within hours of any odd activity and Glasswire gives me the ability to drill down to determine cause.

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