this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
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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.
I remember when computers had a use and were predictable and somewhat understandable.
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.