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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

#312
post #140

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.

p.s. not being sarcastic

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

#314
post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Razer was always low quality garbage at premium prices. Gamer marketing for you.

What do you recommend instead? In my opinion the Razer mice are always superior for FPS.

Some Razer mice were somewhat good in the times when the sensor mattered, with the rest of them being absolute garbage (starting with the Copperhead which barely worked). Today there's a ton of niche manufacturers with great internals that will exceed any requirements you might possibly have.

If you're really interested in FPS performance and not just the brand, choose for the ergonomics first, it's not possible to recommend anything without knowing your play style, hand size etc. The shape and weight you like, and complementary feet and mat with the exact static/dynamic friction you need. Then check if the internals are good enough (they likely are) and whether there are any firmware issues like extra jitter on flicks or unavoidable debounce lag, then look at the required software. There's a ton of mice with excellent performance that are configurable without ANY software.

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

#315
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

“Now”? This is nothing new. For about 30 years now Microsoft has been constantly repeating various flavors of this “make it so a thing can automatically and silently run programs as soon as it touches your computer” thing. It’s always done in the name of user convenience. It always ends up being a fiasco. I don’t know why they keep doing it, it’s not like the exact same PHB keeps making the same decision over and ove…

> It’s probably one or a combination of the many well documented flavors of stupid that are deeply baked into the company’s organizational culture.

It all comes from the increasingly widely held idea that the user should not be the ultimate authority over what should run on his computer. The OS vendor should have a say. Third party developers should have a say. Device manufacturers should have a say. Anyone except the user, who is just a passenger on his own system. And this mentality is not limited to Microsoft.

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

#316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and it worked great since it would pull all necessary drivers after installation without you going hunting on the internet like in the Windows XP days. A driver shouldn't be a front-facing program that shows ads of any kind. It should be sandboxed and follow strict APIs to talk to the OS and that's it - any extra options should be shown inline in the main e.g. printer or mouse dialog.

And then what, ever single gaming mouse/keyboard config is going to appear in the Windows UI dialog? I think extra options in an app is fine, but you should have to download it. At which point who knows what you’ve opened yourself to but at least you chose to do it.

Drivers should just make my stuff work. If I want to configure my hardware, I download the app from the manufacturer's website.

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

#317

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…

> This situation has.. no precedent as far as I can tell.. You got a lot of replies already, but there's so much precedent. Plugging a Logitech mouse installs a network capable, autolaunch capable, pop up app for at least the past 10 years. LG's thing seems grodier, but this has been common Windows-ism for a while.

Plus even when the Logitech mouse has been moved to a different PC, the former PC will continue to get Logitech updates anyway.

Apparently so they will be one step ahead of you in case you decide to plug it in again sometime.

Graphics cards can do this too, you remove the card and go back to the motherboard's built-in HDMI port, then one day here comes a big update for the non-existent graphics adapter.

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

#318

Installing drivers and software for connected hardware is just something Windows has done through Windows update for a long time. Is this a good practice? I don’t really know. We used to get drivers on CDs, but barely anyone has a drive on their computer anymore. You could download them from the vendor website but these are usually a mess and very difficult to navigate to find the right thing — impossible for your gr…

Windows already ships with gigabytes of drivers. This is why you can plug most popular hardware on an offline Windows and it will work.

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

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and it worked great since it would pull all necessary drivers after installation without you going hunting on the internet like in the Windows XP days. A driver shouldn't be a front-facing program that shows ads of any kind. It should be sandboxed and follow strict APIs to talk to the OS and that's it - any extra options should be shown inline in the main e.g. printer or mouse dialog.

And then what, ever single gaming mouse/keyboard config is going to appear in the Windows UI dialog? I think extra options in an app is fine, but you should have to download it. At which point who knows what you’ve opened yourself to but at least you chose to do it.

Configurable peripherals should store their configurations entirely on-board, and they should be configurable using a well-understood protocol. Users can then use either the vendor's application, a common third-party application, or the configuration interface native to their desktop environment to configure them. When they plug them into a new machine, they should just keep working without having to install any configuration software.

Many generations of Roccat peripherals were usable this way on Linux, thanks to the work of one generous volunteer who reverse-engineered them.

Companies like Logitech don't store their devices' configs in firmware in a way that "forces" you to run some additional shit to use all of their features (some features aren't implemented in software). It's a convenient excuse that allows them to push their spyware onto users, but it's totally unnecessary.

A vendor that was actually "user friendly" in the deep sense (opposite of "user hostile") would do this themselves; configuration would be upstream-first via libratbagd or whatever, and then they'd provide their own configuration interface as a value-add for a uniform cross-platform experience, or in areas where they thought they could provide a better UI than the design principles of KDE and GNOME, or so that they could have a uniform interface to refer to in their documentation.

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

#320

I have an LG monitor and I think I managed to avoid this by using Linux.

Same, also bought an LG TV to replace our aging 2 decade old TV. Nothing says you have to run the TV's setup. Use an external device for streaming, preferably running Linux and you have full control and no Ads or telemetry.
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