Back in my day we called ‘software that silently downloads and installs on your computer without your intervention or consent’ a computer virus. We would have said ‘LG monitors install viruses on your pc’ and it would’ve been kind of a big deal. Fuck, now I feel old.
That’s not even all of the problem. The other part is: “Windows Update allows third-parties to install computer viruses on your PC.”
Up until now it’s kind of just been assumed that official device drivers are relatively benign and helpful. Y’know, like “install the printer driver so you can print things.” Device drivers have always been an attack vector though (further reading). Maybe tomorrow my printer will become malicious too! Though it’s arguably already borderline.
It’s nothing new. I remember some years ago HP did the same thing on HP-branded pcs - it had an ‘analytics’ program (called Touchpoint iirc) which could be uninstalled via the usual Windows uninstall menu - but it didn’t really uninstall, instead somehow making it so the process that runs it wouldn’t be visible in Task Manager (only in Process Explorer).
If you went and hunted down the program and deleted it, it’d be silently reinstalled with the next windows update.
OLD NEWS! The article dates from Jul 17, 2026.
Checked my monitors brand, then remembered that I use Linux.
3 of my monitors are LG: Panic!
But I’m running Linux: Calm.
Yo! Me too, but I run macOS. and apple isn’t a twat, just yet.
Isn’t this old? Is this just regurgitated slop?
Pretty much sounds like it. Microsoft also made them pull back their shenanigans, if I remember correctly.
Late, after the publicity, yeah.
Don’t currently own any LG brand gear, although I assumed they were a decent brand until recently. This certainly removed them from any consideration in the future, fuck that noise.
My mouse kept nagging to install their special software until I tracked down a registry key to disable it.
Hardware vendors, you sell a piece of equipment, quit trying to be a damn marketing company too
