Turning Off the Metered Connection — Yes, That Might Be The Culprit
So, here’s where I got stuck — apparently, Windows 11 can throttle your internet speed if it thinks your Wi-Fi or network is “metered.” Honestly, I didn’t realize that was a thing until my speeds suddenly tanked when switching over to a Wi-Fi network that was marked as metered. It’s like Windows trying to save data in the background without explicitly telling you. The thing is, for some reason, Windows sometimes treats even unlimited or home networks as metered — probably because it’s trying to be smart or cautious, but it ends up throttling speeds just when you need them the most.
To check this out, go into Settings — that gear icon — and then navigate to Network & Internet. From there, click on Wi-Fi and select your network’s properties. There you’ll find an option called "Metered connection". If it’s toggled on, turn it off. Simple, right? Well, sometimes not so simple; because Windows might be flagging it as metered even if it’s not, especially on my older ASUS, where it felt buried in Advanced options. Anyway, switching that toggle off can actually make a big difference — just getting rid of that speed cap, and it’s so underrated how much this can improve throughput.
If you’re on Ethernet, don’t think it’s any different. Head over to Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > More network adapter options. Right-click your active adapter, pick Properties, and check if there’s anything about data limits — some setups identify Ethernet as metered too. Also, some folks like to tweak registry settings to disable metered connections if the GUI isn’t doing the trick. For that, you could open regedit and look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\WindowsNT\\CurrentVersion\\NetworkList\\Profiles. But honestly, I wouldn’t jump into registry unless all else fails, because it’s more advanced and riskier.
Running Windows Troubleshooter — Usually a Good Start
If turning off the metered toggle didn’t help, the next move for me was the built-in Windows troubleshooter. Honestly, I’ve seen this tool diagnose and fix weird little glitches more times than I can count. It’s like Windows can spot stuff you won’t notice. To get there, search for “Troubleshoot settings” in the Start menu, then open that menu. Look for “Network and Internet” troubleshooter. Alternatively, right-click on that network icon in the system tray and pick “Troubleshoot problems”. It’s quick and often surprisingly effective.
Once you run it, just follow the prompts. Sometimes it resets network adapters, sometimes it clears up DNS issues or IP conflicts you didn’t even know you had. If it doesn’t resolve the issue, another trick I’ve used is running commands like netsh winsock reset or netsh int ip reset in an elevated PowerShell or Command Prompt. After running those, a reboot is usually needed, but it’s worth trying if speeds are still terrible. I’ve had days where this was literally the difference between a sluggish connection and full speed again. Even if the troubleshooter says “no issues found,” it can still be worth it — sometimes Windows just doesn’t report everything, but these resets clean up the mess.
Check Hidden Background Apps and Network Usage
So, even after all that, internet still slow? That’s when I started looking at background processes. Believe it or not, some apps or services run in the background and gobble up all your bandwidth without you realizing. During one late-night troubleshooting session, I opened Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc and switched to the Performance tab. From there, I clicked on Open Resource Monitor at the bottom — it’s a little sneaky, but it reveals all network activity in detail.
In Resource Monitor, under the Network tab, you’ll see which processes are hogging bandwidth. Sometimes, it’s just a Windows update quietly downloading, or some cloud sync app updating files. Other times, some background software or even malware can be the culprit. If you see a process that’s using way too much data and it’s not critical, right-click and choose End Process. Of course, be cautious — killing system processes can cause instability, so only do this if you’re pretty sure what you’re ending. Also, if you’re using a VPN or proxy, disable it temporarily; VPNs especially can slow down your connection noticeably. This step helped me reclaim bandwidth so I could actually enjoy decent speeds again.
In a nutshell, double-check these things: turn off the metered setting, run network troubleshooters, and monitor background activity. It sounds a bit ad-hoc, but putting all these pieces together might finally bring your speed back from the brink.
Hope this helped — it took me way too long to figure it out. But honestly, sometimes Windows settings are unintuitive, and you just gotta dig around. Good luck, and don’t give up on the love of speedy broadband!