Yeah something like a virus ... a program that could potentially be secretly communicating outside of your computer sending information.

I guess the trick will be to try to measure approximately yourself. Check the daily usage, try not using LW for a day & see how much it jumps up. Then use LW & see how much difference it makes.

Are you running in Ultrapeer mode? Are you using LW Pro? Pro connects to an extra two UP's but that shouldn't make too much difference. Ultrapeer mode means many more messages coming in, etc. but still should not make a dramatic difference.