Microsoft finally found a Windows ad it doesn’t like

26/07 08:15 - Microsoft finally found a Windows ad it doesn’t like
Microsoft is an advertising company. Not just an advertising company, true, it makes software and hardware and sells online services. But it made $10 billion in revenue from “search and news advertising” in 2025, according to its own numbers. This isn’t a new problem — despite being paid software, Windows is absolutely stuffed with advertising, stem to stern. But recently, some owners of LG monitors noticed that they were getting extra ads delivered via Windows Update, ostensibly disguised as helpful software. Not ads for Microsoft services. Not ads for LG products. Ads for McAfee, the kind of bloatware that’s been clogging up budget laptops with pre-installed junk since the 90s. They were, understandably, upset. Now Microsoft, of all companies, is doing damage control. LG monitors auto-install McAfee adware and popups via Windows Update Here’s how this is supposed to work. Windows automatically detects hardware connected to your PC, and then hits up Microsoft’s Windows Update servers for relevant drivers and companion apps. It’s the kind of thing that’s supposed to be invisible, doing the work behind the scenes so that you don’t really have to think about drivers or updates. Anyone who remembers spending hours tracking down drivers from a dozen different sources, online or even on CDs and floppy disks, can appreciate a system that does all that work for you. But with convenience comes opportunity, at least if you’re an advertiser. That’s why I can’t check my front porch camera app for a package without getting an ad for a robot vacuum. (That’s not an exaggeration; I just checked.) So somebody at LG decided that, in addition to the basic monitor driver and management app delivered to its users via Windows Update, it would slip in an additional program, “LG Monitor App Installer.” This extra bit of software includes McAfee, or an ad for it — as if there was any difference. Reddit user Acceptable_Fan_3209 Several users noted that this software was installed even though they hadn’t plugged in anything except an HDMI or DisplayPort cable. That’s enough for Windows to detect the model of the monitor, but not install software pre-loaded on the device itself, like, say, a USB flash drive. Even an experienced user wouldn’t assume that plugging in a video cable would grant unspoken permission to load up external applications. Gamers Nexus, which has shifted its team’s focus from broad PC gamer stuff to some excellent consumer advocacy over the last couple of years, did a deep dive following user reports. They bought the same LG OLED gaming monitor, plugged it into a Windows 11 PC, and let Windows Update do its thing. This installed the extension driver update and a program labelled as “SoftwareComponent.” This installed the LG Monitor App Installer without any further input from the user, no alerts, no messages, nothing. You should check out the full Gamers Nexus report to get all the details. But long story short, the app is a portal to other applications, most of which make sense, including a calibration tool and a “dual controller” app that looks like a software KVM. But at the bottom of the list is a free McAfee trial, the pop-up that got people’s attention in the first place. This is, almost certainly, included via a lucrative agreement between LG and the software security vendor. This creates a pop-up ad for McAfee that runs when you boot up the PC, almost every single time — one out of every thirty reboots in GN’s testing, it showed an ad for another LG app. Gamers Nexus theorizes that LG could swap out the advertising slot for another product remotely. It’s adware. It’s just adware. And since it comes automatically with a monitor that costs over $1,000 USD, it’s understandable why users were upset. The advertising, which has been going on across multiple LG monitor models for more than a year, isn’t even the most objectionable problem. The LG Monitor App Installer program also has a distressing amount of default permissions, including “all system resources” and access to the PC’s internet connection. LG’s privacy policy includes the collection of hardware device info and geolocation, online user activity, and account data. Exactly how much of that data is being collected or transferred isn’t clear. This software package has been operating in this way since at least 2024, though the attention it’s garnered from the McAfee adware seems to be from a recent change. The outcry from social media has been vehement enough that Microsoft had to respond. Microsoft says LG has disabled the McAfee pop-up Replying to users on The AI Slop Platform Formerly Known as Twitter, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Windows Pavan Davuluri said that the company contacted LG. The manufacturer “agree[d] to disable the McAfee pop-up from their app.” Note that the LG Monitor App Installer is, presumably, still being automatically downloaded via Windows Update. Based on the statement, the app isn’t actually removing the McAfee advertising slot. It just won’t show the pop-up. It’s worth noting that this tweet came in reply to Tim Sweeney, the CEO of game publisher and software vendor Epic, prolific AI slop vendor, and billionaire. This relatively quick response from Microsoft — less than a week after the Gamers Nexus investigation video — is interesting to me. Windows users have been complaining about the prevalence of advertising baked into the operating system for years. I can click the Widgets button on my Windows taskbar right now, and get a never-ending feed of “content” tied into that $10 billion advertising machine. A $1500 laptop that I’m reviewing at the moment comes pre-loaded with “Solitaire and Casual games,” which costs $3 a month to play ad-free. For Solitaire. Microsoft Don’t get me wrong. Microsoft telling LG to cool it on the bloatware is a good thing. But it feels toothless and meaningless, since the offending app is still being automatically installed without user permission. And since Windows advertising remains a headache in so many different ways, I have to wonder where the lines are. What kind of abusive behavior aimed at users — or perhaps more pertinently, how much highly visible user outrage — will Microsoft tolerate before it decides to call a foul on its partners? ...