I noticed that feature too (you can find it under Settings\ Update and Security\Windows Update click "Advanced options" - it is rather tucked away!). As far as I can see there is no way of throttling the amount of bandwidth I'm giving Microsoft permission
to use? It would be great if that was something the user could choose, to prevent the feature slowing up their user experience, getting the user 'throttled' by their ISP, or costing them extra.
I found myself a bit torn about whether to turn this feature on or off:
- The argument for leaving it 'on' - we all want to help each other, don't we? And sometimes the updates being circulated will be security patches, and so it's to everyone's benefit if immunity to the latest exploit gets out into the community as soon as
possible.
- The argument for 'off' - are Microsoft simply saving money by using the community as unpaid software distributors? Is that an unpaid job I want? "Save The Big Corporation Money!" is not likely to be among my favourite good causes any time soon.
As I say, it would be easier to choose 'on' if I could control the amount of bandwidth I am donating, or, perhaps, have a setting allowing me to volunteer my resources for circulating security updates only. My system has it 'off' for now. Do other folks
feel the same?
BTW, also notice that by default Windows 10 wants to send feedback to Microsoft ' Automatically' and to send 'Full usage data'. These are settings you can find under Settings\Privacy\Feedback & Diagnostics. I'm not sure how much bandwidth THAT uses, either.
Obviously Microsoft are going to prefer to have the maximum data - for system improvements as well as any commercial use of the user data. Sometimes users will prefer not to give so much information due to privacy concerns, or not to allow so much uploading
(for bandwidth or performance reasons). At least here there are other settings (e.g. to send only 'basic' feedback and only once a week.)
In General, I thought the default 'Express settings' one encounters during installation were often very self-serving for Microsoft. I found this article http://www.howtogeek.com/224352/what%E2%80%99s-the-difference-between-windows-10%E2%80%99s-express-or-custom-setup/
helpful to understand what I was being asked to agree to & decide whether I wanted to customize things..