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LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

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Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#131

Post by silverlimetea »

devttyeu wrote: post #20

This is so much worse that the title makes it out to be: 1. Your OS installs malware (technically manufacturers software) from a 3rd party vendor in background, zero user interaction 2. Happens as soon as you or anyone with physical access plug in a device into the HDMI port 3. That malware has internet and full system access, no sandboxing 4. It starts with every system boot 5. This software gets installed when you…

Buddy let me welcome you to the Internet where your phones and emails are literally listening to your microphone like it’s Watergate.

It’s not unprecedented at all for Microsoft or anyone to download what amounts to spyware.

The days of antivirus were replaced by advertising a long time ago. There is no privacy.

Most savvy types are hyper aware of every process running on their machine especially those using network lol

Kill the process or don’t by an LG. Everyone just uses Dell, or you’re rich and you get a Mac one. I don’t make the rules

Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#132

Post by subscribed »

classified wrote: post #99
rbanffy wrote: post #63

At this point, such shenanigans are to be expected when using Windows. I guess my next machine will have a VGA port ;-) And no Windows.

As long as you don't need some Windows-only software, Linux is a viable alternative now. KDE Plasma is a great desktop environment and even most games run flawlessly on Steam. And if you do need Windows occasionally, you can put it into a VM.

Eh, kinda. I have new-ish MSI laptop with nvidia and it's still not good enough. I tried on the spare nvme and it just doesn't work well enough with these few games I want.

Close but still not there. And Plasma has its own problems (I have it on my work laptop with Fedora).

Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#133

Post by Grom_PE »

supriyo-biswas wrote: post #51
luciana1u wrote: post #26

we finally cracked self-installing software, it just turns out the payload is McAfee and the installer is an HDMI cable

We had autorun.inf in the past installing automatically from any random USB drive[1]. The fun days where you always feared contracting malware if you so happened to plug a random USB drive in :) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorun.inf

And some USB drives pretended to also be a CD-ROM to circumvent the limitation of autorun.inf not executing on removable media.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3_(software)

Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#135

Post by delta_p_delta_x »

mrbluecoat wrote: post #122
delta_p_delta_x wrote: post #6

Workaround: gpedit.msc Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Installation Prevent automatic download of applications associated with device metadata Set to enabled OK On home editions sans gpedit.msc: sysdm.cpl Hardware tab Click Device Installation Settings Under 'Do you want to automatically download manufacturers' apps for your devices?', select 'No' Save Changes

Very helpful, thank you. But it does remind me of that Yzma quote in The Emperor's New Groove: "Why do we even have that lever?"

> Why do we even have that lever

For plug-and-play devices with multiple configuration knobs. It is nice to be able to click through a printer wizard to configure how one wants to print their documents. Likewise with an audio interface: loopback settings, codec, sampling rate, gain and volume of channels, etc. Or consider a USB CNC mill; configuring things like milling revolution rate, setting which bit is installed, what lubricant is used, etc. Or consider the Nvidia/AMD control panels for their GPUs; things like colour depth and space, resolution, scaling, anti-aliasing, vertical synch, power settings, etc.

Some of these settings are device- and even manufacturer-specific; one might argue these are more than a driver or the platform can or should provide. That being said, this stuff should go into a user-mode driver...

That LG have exploited this functionality to install adware is on them.

Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#136

Post by fooker »

sigio wrote: post #36
devttyeu wrote: post #20

This is so much worse that the title makes it out to be: 1. Your OS installs malware (technically manufacturers software) from a 3rd party vendor in background, zero user interaction 2. Happens as soon as you or anyone with physical access plug in a device into the HDMI port 3. That malware has internet and full system access, no sandboxing 4. It starts with every system boot 5. This software gets installed when you…

I can only conclude that Windows is basically malware now... Thank $deity I haven't used any form of Windows for 10+ years anymore.

You're missing out on 37 different unrelated things being named copilot.

Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#137

Post by lloydatkinson »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #97
delusional wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Blizzard Entertainment You mean "Microsoft Xbox Activision Blizzard King Bethesda Mojang"? I wish you luck with your boycott.

I've successfully avoided these companies the last 5 years. Gaming as a whole is dead for me, I just play a couple of old games now & then. The culture is toast too, not just bad games or expensive hardware. So not really losing much sleep over any of this. I have linux on all my machines, so I really only play the one's that perform well on linux. Haven't played online multiplayer games since ~2013. Many of us are l…

I'm still angry at how they ruined Overwatch

Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#138

Post by supertrope »

fragmede wrote: post #116
chrismorgan wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When preinstalled (as multiple major OEMs do), or when bundled in unrelated installers in these sorts of ways, it matches the definitions of scam excellently, and protection racket not badly. When you uninstall, they give you an opportunity to type a reason. I wonder if anyone actually reads my accusations of them being scammers and bad people. I have uninstalled McAfee from more people’s computers than I care to rem…

How exactly does it match the definition of a scam? Windows does get viruses, and it does protect against them. It's not something you actually need, like most consumer VPNs, but they have high pressure sales tactics to trick people into buying it, but they do deliver what is promised, which makes it not a scam. They are creating artificial demand with their scare mongering, and I tell everyone I know not to get it,…

It depends on your definition of scam. Is McAfee a total fraud, not delivering on its core functionality of anti-virus scanning? No. But it's selling something most people don't need and uses information asymmetry, fear, and dark patterns to make money. Microsoft Defender has solved the anti-virus problem. (It doesn't solve the computer security problem but that's out of scope of AV). To play devil's advocate, without bundled bloatware PCs might cost $10 more.

Re: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent

#140

Post by dcj4 »

windows update is a well known malware vector, how does this warrant any news? if you absolutely have to use windows, you either go through the effort of stripping the particular version you chose from all the spyware and malware it comes packaged with and gut the malware loader paths out of it, or you accept that you're running a botnet node you have little to no control over.
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