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LG and Alienware monitors caught auto-installing Windows adware

MrGuvernment

MrGuvernment

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McAfee will try anything to be relevant...

LG and Alienware monitors caught auto-installing Windows adware​

https://www.techspot.com/news/11303...rs-caught-auto-installing-windows-adware.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterra...ndows_update_silently_installed_lg_bloatware/

A hot potato: Adware is usually associated with pre-built PCs and dubious free downloads, but some users recently discovered that even legitimate monitors can quietly install apps that display pop-ups without permission. Fixing the issue seems to require changing local group policy settings or, in extreme cases, disabling the Microsoft Store altogether.

Redditor "Mags_Smash" recently complained about seeing McAfee pop-up ads on his PC despite never having installed the antivirus suite. He eventually traced the ads back to another app that his new LG monitor had installed without his knowledge.

After connecting one LG UltraGear 27GP83B monitor and two 27GN800s, Mags_Smash found that at least one of the panels had installed an "LG Monitor App Installer" via the Microsoft Store and Windows Update. The application shows up under the name "9PM9N6F47JB8-LGElectronics.LGMonitorApp" in Reliability Monitor, and Event Viewer logged its successful installation.

Several others reported the same problem after coming across the discussion, and some found their own systems were affected once they went looking. Others confirmed similar behavior with Dell and Alienware monitors, comparing it to how Asus motherboards automatically install the company's Armory Crate software.

Unfortunately, the LG Monitor App can't be uninstalled through the Microsoft Store. So far, the only confirmed way to disable it without touching advanced system settings is to stop it from launching at boot, by unchecking it under Settings > Apps > Startup.

2026-07-07-image-28.jpg


Mags_Smash also found two more permanent solutions.

The first involves changing a local group policy setting: navigate to gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Installation, and enable the setting that prevents automatic download of applications associated with metadata.

The second, more drastic option is to disable the Microsoft Store entirely, via gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Store, by choosing the setting to disable the Store application.

McAfee pop-ups might feel like a throwback to early-2000s nagware, but adware and other forms of unwanted advertising have become a fixture of smartphones, AI, and smart TVs alike. Amazon Prime and YouTube TV have both started showing unskippable ads to more users, and Hisense recently drew criticism for serving ads when users simply changed inputs. Meanwhile, ChatGPT began showing ads earlier this year to boost revenue, Motorola was caught hijacking Amazon links, and EA is planning to work more ads into its games than ever.
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Monitor software shouldn't contain anything else but the drivers for the monitor and possibly monitor tuning software.

McAfee Corp must have paid the mfg of the monitor in question to include their bloatware with the drivers.
 
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I dont install any peripheral software if i really dont have to. I definitely dont for monitors....and normally dont for mice, keyboards or USB headsets. If needed, Windows detects and provides the drivers. I dont know if other software gets installed by windows or not.
 
aliaskary77 said:
I dont install any peripheral software if i really dont have to. I definitely dont for monitors....and normally dont for mice, keyboards or USB headsets. If needed, Windows detects and provides the drivers. I dont know if other software gets installed by windows or not.
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Apparently it's automatically installed by windows when it does the hardware driver installation, unless you disable that Windows "feature."

After connecting one LG UltraGear 27GP83B monitor and two 27GN800s, Mags_Smash found that at least one of the panels had installed an "LG Monitor App Installer" via the Microsoft Store and Windows Update. The application shows up under the name "9PM9N6F47JB8-LGElectronics.LGMonitorApp" in Reliability Monitor, and Event Viewer logged its successful installation.
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More to the point, MS Store failed to do what it set out to do which is to rid us of garbage like this. This might as well be malware. If you didn't ask for it, it's malware in my book.

If we can't trust apps on the MS Store, then we need a way to downvote the app in question into oblivion. Otherwise, we're no better off than we were before the MS Store existed.
 
Absalom said:
More to the point, MS Store failed to do what it set out to do which is to rid us of garbage like this.
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It doesn't get installed via the Microsoft Store in the traditional sense. It's the software component of a monitor driver, that is installed via Windows Update. Drivers have had app components for... literally decades. The Nvidia driver installs the Nvidia App, etc. On my Alienware AW3821DW (LG panel), it installs the "Alienware Command Center" which is just a pretty basic app that allows you to control the RGB on the monitor and some other stuff. It has an option for "Diagnostic Data" which can be toggled off. I don't know how much the LG app is different from the Alienware App, but it seems like a big nothingburger to me. Just one more thing for McAfee to "detect" to try to scare you with so that you will pay for a subscription when it's really McAfee itself that has become the malware.
 
GotNoRice said:
It doesn't get installed via the Microsoft Store in the traditional sense. It's the software component of a monitor driver, that is installed via Windows Update. Drivers have had app components for... literally decades. The Nvidia driver installs the Nvidia App, etc. On my Alienware AW3821DW (LG panel), it installs the "Alienware Command Center" which is just a pretty basic app that allows you to control the RGB on the monitor and some other stuff. It has an option for "Diagnostic Data" which can be toggled off. I don't know how much the LG app is different from the Alienware App, but it seems like a big nothingburger to me. Just one more thing for McAfee to "detect" to try to scare you with so that you will pay for a subscription when it's really McAfee itself that has become the malware.
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The problem is the monitor software showing pop-up ads for McAfee as part of its normal install. It isn't McAfee detecting anything for you (these users don't have McAfee installed) , it's just an ad included in the monitor software.
 
GotNoRice said:
It doesn't get installed via the Microsoft Store in the traditional sense. It's the software component of a monitor driver, that is installed via Windows Update. Drivers have had app components for... literally decades. The Nvidia driver installs the Nvidia App, etc. On my Alienware AW3821DW (LG panel), it installs the "Alienware Command Center" which is just a pretty basic app that allows you to control the RGB on the monitor and some other stuff. It has an option for "Diagnostic Data" which can be toggled off. I don't know how much the LG app is different from the Alienware App, but it seems like a big nothingburger to me. Just one more thing for McAfee to "detect" to try to scare you with so that you will pay for a subscription when it's really McAfee itself that has become the malware.
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Quoting myself in post #7

McAfee is the garbage dump in the AV/security business.
 
GotNoRice said:
On my Alienware AW3821DW (LG panel), it installs the "Alienware Command Center" which is just a pretty basic app that allows you to control the RGB on the monitor and some other stuff.
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Yeah, that wouldn't be a big deal except for some reason that software completely broke Windows' ability to turn off the monitor when not in use. Which for an OLED is sort of a bad thing.

I find it extremely annoying that trying to plug in the USB on my Alienware to use the onboard hub, it constantly tries to push this software.
 
MavericK said:
Yeah, that wouldn't be a big deal except for some reason that software completely broke Windows' ability to turn off the monitor when not in use. Which for an OLED is sort of a bad thing.

I find it extremely annoying that trying to plug in the USB on my Alienware to use the onboard hub, it constantly tries to push this software.
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Interesting. I've never had that problem on mine, using both the app and the built-in USB hub, although my monitor is a "Fast IPS" panel rather than OLED.

HockeyJon said:
I've never bought a monitor and said to myself "you know what this needs? Its own app!".
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I definitely don't support bloatware but I don't think that a minimalist app for things like controlling RGB lighting is necessarily a bad thing.
 
GotNoRice said:
Interesting. I've never had that problem on mine, using both the app and the built-in USB hub, although my monitor is a "Fast IPS" panel rather than OLED.
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Yeah, I'm not sure why and maybe they've fixed it, but when I first got the monitor (AW2725DW) I couldn't figure out why the hell it wouldn't go to sleep. Turned out to be the Alienware app.
 
I'd go as far as to say that not only should a monitor not have software, it shouldn't even have a driver. A signal should be sent out the appropriate interface, and the monitor can either read it or not. There should be a standard for how monitors announce their capabilities, and the OS should be able to populate the appropriate dropdowns based on that info announced during the handshake. *cough*EDID*cough*
 
GotNoRice said:
Interesting. I've never had that problem on mine, using both the app and the built-in USB hub, although my monitor is a "Fast IPS" panel rather than OLED.



I definitely don't support bloatware but I don't think that a minimalist app for things like controlling RGB lighting is necessarily a bad thing.
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Of all the PC parts/peripherals that don't need RGB lighting, a monitor is #1.
 
jfreund said:
Of all the PC parts/peripherals that don't need RGB lighting, a monitor is #1.
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You are preaching to the choir. I keep all of my RGB disabled 99.9% of the time, and wish that tech never went that direction in general. But that was a battle that was lost a long time ago, and if something is going to have RGB, I do appreciate at least being able to control it (aka turn it off) easily.
 
So has this behavior been confirmed or just a bunch of users who claim "they did nothing" not realizing "install McAfee antivirus" is by default checked and requires you to uncheck when THEY installed software for their new monitor?
 
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