Your Monitor Can Install Adware Now?
Show notes
You plug in a new monitor. Windows detects the hardware, pulls down a vendor companion app, and the first thing you see is… a McAfee ad. That’s the story that kicks off this episode, but the bigger issue is not just one annoying popup.
Hardware setup has become a software delivery channel. Drivers, companion apps, RGB utilities, printer suites, vendor dashboards, trialware, telemetry, ads, and startup apps can all arrive through a process most users think of as “just making the device work.” Tom, Scott, and Kevin discuss where convenience turns into bloatware, why user consent matters, and how these trusted installation paths could be abused for worse than advertising.
The discussion also covers a related Krebs on Security story about LG smart TV apps that allowed televisions to be used as residential proxy nodes. If monitors, TVs, printers, keyboards, and other peripherals are really networked software platforms, then consumers need to treat them more like endpoints and less like harmless appliances.
Practical advice: check what gets installed after connecting new hardware, review Windows Startup Apps, uninstall vendor utilities you do not need, dig through smart-TV privacy and ad settings, and segment smart devices away from the computers and phones you use for sensitive work.
** Links mentioned on the show **
Tom’s Hardware: Companies are now using automatic Windows installers to display adware through the Microsoft Store when you install new hardware https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/companies-are-now-using-automatic-windows-installers-to-display-adware-through-the-microsoft-store-when-you-install-new-hardware-customer-immediately-gets-mcafee-ads-on-their-pc-after-connecting-new-lg-monitor-heres-how-to-block-the-new-ads
Krebs on Security: LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/07/lg-to-ban-residential-proxies-from-smart-tv-apps/
Hackread: LG monitors installing adware-like app on Windows PCs https://hackread.com/lg-monitors-install-adware-app-windows-pcs/
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