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joe_mamba | on: LG monitors silently install software through Windows Update without consent
>I don't know what Microsoft is thinking even allowing and enabling this sort of thing

This has been a feature since Windows 7, and it worked great since it would pull all necessary drivers after installation without you going hunting on the internet like in the Windows XP days.

Just that no HW manufacturer thought to push spyware in their driver repos at that point to improve some team's KPIs.

coldtea | parent | next
>and it worked great since it would pull all necessary drivers after installation without you going hunting on the internet like in the Windows XP days.

A driver shouldn't be a front-facing program that shows ads of any kind. It should be sandboxed and follow strict APIs to talk to the OS and that's it - any extra options should be shown inline in the main e.g. printer or mouse dialog.

threetonesun | root | parent | next
And then what, ever single gaming mouse/keyboard config is going to appear in the Windows UI dialog? I think extra options in an app is fine, but you should have to download it. At which point who knows what you’ve opened yourself to but at least you chose to do it.
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michaelmrose | root | parent | next
Linux users think of a driver as the thing that makes my silently hardware do the existing things its supposed to do like every other item in its class.

Windows users think of the driver as what makes the hardware do what everything in its class does but subtly different and somehow glued to a command center with its own unique and bad GUI auto started, in the tray, with its own update schedule, and ads.

MatejKafka | root | parent
How exactly do you propose to sandbox drivers running in kernel space? Do you even know how drivers work? (I'm guessing no, based on this comment)
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marcosdumay | parent | next
> Just that no HW manufacturer thought to push spyware in their driver repos at that point to improve some team's KPIs.

Except for every printer, some popular GPUs, Microsoft's peripherals...

wat10000 | parent
Auto-run when inserting a CD worked great, until people realized you could do bad stuff with it. User action must be required to run or install new software.
jayd16 | root | parent
OK so you get a pop-up that says "install driver or it won't work" and so you do and then you're at the same situation.
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