this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
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88
Microsoft responds to LG monitors installing McAfee ads on Windows (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 day ago by madeindex@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50166453

Most "Smart" TVs use Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), essentially taking snapshots every 10+ms of what you watch and hear, then forwarding & selling that data to companies for ads, etc. I now feel it's only a matter of time before this "feature" finds its way to our ever "smarter" PC monitors.

LG with the help of Windows is already installing adware when the right Device ID is detected.

☑️ To disable ACR on TV: https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/home-entertainment/how-to-disable-acr-tv/

top 27 comments
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[–] DocMcStuffin@lemmy.world 54 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Obligatory: you can improve your Windows experience by installing Linux.

Non snarky comment: you can disable driver craplets from auto-installing using group policy or the registry.

run gpedit.msc
Computer Configuration
> Administrative Templates
  > System
    > Device Installation

Prevent automatic download of applications associated with device metadata
= Enabled

That will set the following registry key:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Device Metadata]
"PreventDeviceMetadataFromNetwork"=dword:00000001
[–] lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

Holy crap I forgot the Windows Registry exists. Nightmare fuel

[–] undrwater@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

This is interesting, but the following is not intuitive in relation to displaying ads on a display device:

Prevent automatic download of applications associated with device metadata

It confuses me what people say Linux is hard.

[–] elvith@feddit.org 6 points 22 hours ago

Most people will be on Win Home which usually locks you out of gpedit. Or ignores your settings there, some even from the registry. In the recent times there are even some GPOs locked for Pro and only available on an enterprise version or Windows server...

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 12 points 22 hours ago

Microsoft approving of the practice

Says enough.

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago (4 children)

We’ve connected with the team at LG and as an immediate next step, they have agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up from their app. We appreciate LG working with us toward a shared goal of a better experience for our mutual customers. We will keep improving here with our ecosystem partners.

Oh, so does that mean you're also going to improve your own garbage, ad-laden start menu, Microsoft?

I like how it wasn't okay because it's "Microsoft's turf." You know what's coming next? An ad ecosystem that's built into the monitor, independent of the operating system.

They won't stop. "Better product" went out the window long ago in favor of juicing the customer for every penny. Don't give them your money and list it as a primary factor in any questionnaire you may run across.

[–] madeindex@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Microsoft Recall is only Software Level, the users demand Hardware level surveillance!

[–] Stinkywizzleteats@piefed.social 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

the packaged user data is the "better product"

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Life's Garbage, eh?

[–] marighost@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

Nono, they didn't want LG competing against their own ~~spyware bloat~~ "promoted partner marketing." Only Microsoft is allowed to give you ads!

And, yknow, the preinstalled bullshit that comes with HP, Dell, Lenovo...

[–] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

Building it into the monitor wouldn't even be hard. Especially if it's a lightning bolt connection, which can also act as a USB connection. So it coult filch a network connection, run ads overlayed on the monitor. Monitor is touchscreen and you have to physically press the tiny "dismiss" button next to the huge "install" button. Mistakenly pressing install sends a keyboard command to the PC that opens a terminal and runs a winget install command.

The fact that I could think of this means that it's probably already in the works.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You know what prevents LG monitors from installing a McAfee popup ad on your machine?

Linux.

[–] madeindex@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

😀 👍 for now, they probably looking for a way as we speak!

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That would be classified as malware, as it is installing something on my system without my desire, consent, or approval.

[–] madeindex@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (3 children)

wonder if they could bypass it by laying the ads directly (hardware level) over any screen input haha

[–] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They can, they would just need an excuse to make people connect the monitor to the internet to get new ads to be worth the trouble of implementing it.

[–] elvith@feddit.org 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

HDMI and USB C are used in monitors. Both can transmit more than just the image data, e.g. tunneling an Ethernet connection. Not sure if Display Port also supports that

[–] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

That would be a way to sneak it in. Some monitors already have embedded USB-C hubs and have an Ethernet port to forward Ethernet to the connected computer.

[–] somenonewho@feddit.org 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Oof. I'm actually using the USB Hub on my LG Monitor like that (with my Laptop connected to the USB-C) and recently thought "it would have been practical if it had an Ethernet port" now I'm quite happy it doesn't. Thinking they could just be running a simple embedded Linux to show ads and forwarding the Ethernet connecting that would be sneaky ... (Tough I would wonder about an additional Device on my Network)

[–] elvith@feddit.org 2 points 20 hours ago

You wouldn’t even really question your new device on the network. Since the monitor must forward the packets from and to your PC it’s MAC address would show up in the network, but that’s expected. And good luck separating the traffic of your monitor from that of your PC if it originates from the very same MAC address as it’s basically the new network card of your PC connected via USB C. And since it could act like a bridge, it could strip out the responses to its own requests and not forward those to your PC so you don’t even see them there. On the other side it’s all TLS encrypted so nothing to see either. Heck, it could even only send its own requests when your PC is actively using the connection so that it’s less noticeable.

You might do some DPI and check what IPs you connect to but good luck finding if it really is your monitor and not some random app on your PC. If it’s using DoH, you can’t even inspect its DNS traffic to get a clue what’s going on (SNI in the handshake might still offer some clue).

Also all of the above enables tracking and spying on you covertly. Ads are quite obvious, so there’s nothing to hide there.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 20 hours ago

HDMI supports ethernet, but very few devices actually implement it. Even if the monitor and GPU support it, there would be no internet connection unless the PC bridges it to your LAN.

DisplayPort does not carry ethernet.

[–] folekaule@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

This already happens with TVs and streaming sticks.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago

I know more than one place that uses monitors for safety messages. If they overlay that there will be bug court cases. Likely criminal

[–] defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You can disable ACR on your TV by disconnecting it from the internet.

[–] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 7 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Wait until you here about the hidden mesh networks they create with other iot shit

[–] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago

It would be awesome if a website cropped up like "ifixit" but was "ibreakit" or something. And it had instructions to surgically physically disable stuff like this on all sorts of models. Like "make a marker on a dremel bit that is 1/2 an inch deep, measure 3 inches from this corner and 4 inches from that corner, make a dot. Drill your dremel into that dot to the 1/2inch marker on your dremel bit to break the traces to the wifi antenna"

Or something like that. It would clearly have to have very bright "if you break your shit we are not responsible" warnings.