Help! Mobile wifi being eaten up at crazy rate (Macbook Pro)

Mr_Toad

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Think I may have cracked it! There was an uninvited mobile film (or something) ad running in the background, which I didn't see until I minimised everything else. I closed it but it came back, I closed it again and now it seems to be gone.

Time to get me an ad blocker I think. Sorry to have wasted everyone's time, and many thanks for your help.

Yes you should install an ad blocker.

However clicking the red button on a Mac does not always end a program and Safari is one of those programs. Open Safari then click the red button, the window will close but Safari is still running, you can see this because the toolbar at the top of the screen is still the Safari toolbar. Also there will be a dot under the Safari icon in the dock indicating it's still running in the background.

There is another thing you can do.

In Safari Preferences, you can get to them from the menu or by using the cmd + , keys.

1. In the Advanced tab, set "Stop plug-ins to save power".

2. In the Security tab, set "Allow Plug-ins" by Internet Plug-ins and then click "Website Settings..." for it.

3. Find the media type you want to stop auto-play in the left hand column(s).
Most non-Flash videos (mp4/h264/HTML5 video) will be "QuickTime".

4. Set "When visiting other websites" to Ask to click to start, or Block for permanent disabling.

5. Click "Done".

Safari will play the video(s) on a page for a brief period before stopping to save power, and the noise will cease.
Clicking on the play button on the video will start the video and audio again for viewing when desired.

Bogof_Babe

Excellent advice everyone, thank you so much.

I got fed up with it last night and shut it all down. Only just switched on today so will see how it goes. 8MB in six minutes so far, that's both sent and received. This is the first thing I've done, opened MSE and posting this (oh and checked my remaining balance!). Still seems a bit dodgy but I'll see if it settles down.

I_have_spoken

Maybe book an appointment at the nearest Apple store and speak to peeps at the Genius Bar?

Bogof_Babe

I'm in Hereford, so that would be Birmingham or Cardiff then. If it persists I'll have to do that, but [touch wood] it seems to have settled down today, after the initial power-up. Currently 30MB in an hour and a half of pretty constant browsing and posting. Still more than it should be I guess. Good thing I'm not on a 125MB a month plan!