Sometimes good things come to those who complain. Microsoft said that LG will stop display advertisements to users after they simply connected the company’s popular monitors to their PCs. However, this does not mean that LG will stop the automatic installation of software simply by connecting the screen to the HDMI port.
Over the past few weeks, LG monitor owners have reported finding a mysterious “LG Monitor App Installer” on their PCs without their consent. It turned out that the company’s monitors had pushed the program to their computers via Windows Update along with the regular display drivers. The app wasn’t just an ordinary third-party app store. It will also automatically show pop-up ads for services like McAfee’s fraud protection and for LG’s own streaming service on users’ desktops.
At X, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney finally got the attention of Windows head Pawan Davuluri. Davuluri’s next tweet said that “we contacted the LG team and as a next step they agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up in their app.”
Thanks again for bringing this to our attention. We contacted the LG team and as a next step they agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up in their app. We appreciate LG working with us towards our common goal of a better experience for our mutual customers.…
— Pavan Davuluri (@pavandavuluri) July 22, 2026
You might call that a win, but neither Microsoft nor LG have claimed that these monitors won’t stop the installation of what is effectively adware without permission. The monitor maker also displayed pop-up ads for its own ads as well as McAfee’s services. Gizmodo has reached out to LG again to ask if it still plans to install the LG Monitor App Installer without user consent, and we’ll update this post when we hear back.
LG initially defended itself in a statement Windows latest versionsaying that McAfee is not installed without users’ consent, and added: “The LG Monitor application installer is distributed as part of the official Microsoft Windows distribution process, which included McAfee as an option.” This is a kind of backwards thinking that misses the reason why customers were so annoyed in the first place.
There are other reasons for concern when unknown applications suddenly appear on your computer – such as privacy. The screen maker also claimed that “LG Monitor App Installer does not access, collect or share personal data of customers.”
Several hardware manufacturers abuse the Windows Update pipeline to install software they don’t need. For example, Razer automatically downloads an installer for its Synapse firmware and device controller app as soon as you plug in any of the company’s peripherals, from a mouse to a webcam. Razer then tries to entice users to download other apps, such as Razer Cortex, a gaming PC optimization app that further tries to entice users with gaming deals.
Even supposedly “dumb” devices, such as an ordinary gaming monitor or performance monitor, can be a trojan horse for unwanted viruses. Microsoft would be better off if any product didn’t automatically install unnecessary software. Instead, it simply stops LG ads from appearing on users’ desktops. Maybe Microsoft wants to be the only one allowed show ads Art Windows 11.
