LG monitors silently install adware with full system access

Plugging in a monitor is not supposed to change the software on your computer. According to testing by hardware outlet Gamers Nexus LG monitors do exactly that.

The mechanism is simple and quiet. Once an LG UltraGear is connected to a Windows PC, Windows Update automatically fetches and installs the LG Monitor App Installer. Gamers Nexus reported the install completing within roughly a minute of connecting the cable. There is no prompt, no consent screen, and no privacy policy shown to the user at any point. The first indication most people would get that anything happened is a pop-up advertising a 30-day free trial of McAfee.

The permissions are the part that moves this beyond an annoyance. According to Privacy Guides, the app's Microsoft Store listing discloses access to "All system resources" along with internet access. Notebookcheck, which identified the test unit as an LG UltraGear 34GX900A-B, reports that a McAfee Scam Detector component installs as part of the same package. In Gamers Nexus's testing the app's pop-ups were mostly the McAfee trial offer, with occasional promotions for other "recommended" LG software mixed in.

The documented behavior is unconsented installation and ad delivery. Privacy Guides notes that an internet-connected app with that permission scope could in theory rotate in different ads or move data off the machine, but that capability was not observed in testing. The distinction matters, and it is also cold comfort, since the whole problem is that the user never agreed to find out.

This is not limited to one new product. Gamers Nexus found the same behavior on newer UltraGear and UltraFine models and on monitors up to three years old, including units already in daily use at its own office. That suggests the install path has been live for some time and applies retroactively to hardware people bought years ago under different expectations.

Microsoft's role deserves scrutiny too. The delivery channel is Windows Update, using Windows' ability to automatically fetch manufacturer apps for connected devices. That feature was built for drivers and companion utilities, not for ad software with full-resource permissions. A trusted operating system update mechanism is doing the installing, which is precisely why no one is asked anything.

LG has not publicly responded in the coverage reviewed for this article.