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GIGABYTE Downloads & Installs Adware/PUP with a BIOS update?!

Vishera
By Vishera
in Programs, Apps and Websites
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Posted

I wanted to update my BIOS and was warned by members of a different community forum that this update has adware/PUP built-in.

I went and looked deeper into it and it's real,

The BIOS Update executes code that downloads and runs the Gigabyte download assistant and displays a popup, it wants you to install something on your PC that you didn't ask for

THIS IS REALLY BAD GIGABYTE!!!!

At least you can disable this code execution in the BIOS... but still IT'S VERY VERY BAD

 

As the UEFI firmware has access to the operating system it makes the user vulnerable to abusive practices like this from board vendors.

It shouldn't work in Legacy BIOS mode.

 

image.thumb.png.22115ac17df9ecc5c2db0a56ea75f796.png

 

image.thumb.png.cdc3843c0f78b3c9f0bf3a5142450c97.png

A PC Enthusiast since 2011
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X@4.65GHz | GIGABYTE GTX 1660 GAMING OC @ Core 2085MHz Memory 5000MHz
Cinebench R23: 15669cb | Unigine Superposition 1080p Extreme: 3566
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Posted

Happy that I switch from Gigabyte to Asus. Had 2 Gigabyte motherboard all dead in ~2 year

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8 minutes ago, Winterlight said:

Happy that I switch from Gigabyte to Asus. Had 2 Gigabyte motherboard all dead in ~2 year

asus is superior

very happy with my b550-f gaming 

Dont forget to mark as solution if your question is answered

Note: My advice is amateur help/beginner troubleshooting, someone else can probably troubleshoot way better than me.

- I do have some experience, and I can use google pretty well. - Feel free to quote me I may respond soon.

 

Join team Red, my apprentice

 

STOP SIDING WITH NVIDIA

 

Setup:
Ryzen 7 5800X3D / Sapphire Nitro+ 7900XTX 24GB / ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming / Cooler Master ML360 Illusion CPU Cooler / EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 / Lian Li Dynamic Evo White Case / 2x16 GB Kingston FURY RAM / 2x 1TB Lexar 710 / iiYama 1440p 165HZ Montitor, iiYama 1080p 75Hz Monitor / Shure MV7 w/ Focusrite Scarlett Solo / GK61 Keyboard / Cooler Master MM712 (daily driver) Logitech G502-X (MMO mouse) / Soundcore Life Q20 w/ Arctis 3 w/ WF-1000XM3

 

CPU OC: -30 all cores @AutoGhz

GPU OC: 3Ghz Core 2750Mhz Memory w/ 25%W increase (460W)

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Posted

ASUS boards do that as well, but with Armory Crate instead, at least on the two I've used somewhat recently (Z690 Apex and X670-P Prime), and I could've sworn I remember an MSI board doing it as well for Mystic Light but the only MSI board I currently own (Z690 Unify-X) doesn't so I can't say for certain. My Gigabyte board (X570 Master) hasn't done this, so maybe it was only in the BIOS for a few boards, but I'm also not on the newest BIOS so I don't know if it's only been added within the past few weeks or not (I'll check in the morning). This isn't really something new, some boards have been doing it for a while to get you to download their motherboard utilities, but it does suck and it's one of the first things I disable when heading into the BIOS of a board that does do it.

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Posted

Everyone does this. Not to mention this feature has been around on all bioses since early 2021. I fail to see what is "really bad".

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!! dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrY? yOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPU. my SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONE. can mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?? woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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5 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

ASUS boards do that as well, but with Armory Crate instead, at least on the two I've used somewhat recently (Z690 Apex and X670-P Prime), and I could've sworn I remember an MSI board doing it as well for Mystic Light but the only MSI board I currently own (Z690 Unify-X) doesn't so I can't say for certain. My Gigabyte board (X570 Master) hasn't done this, so maybe it was only in the BIOS for a few boards, but I'm also not on the newest BIOS so I don't know if it's only been added within the past few weeks or not (I'll check in the morning). This isn't really something new, some boards have been doing it for a while to get you to download their motherboard utilities, but it does suck and it's one of the first things I disable when heading into the BIOS of a board that does do it.

i find armory crate to be pretty usefull

idk any other app that i can use for rgb bc apparently icue and masterplus dont recognise my liquid cooler

 

and i have one from coolermaster.... so thats odd...

Dont forget to mark as solution if your question is answered

Note: My advice is amateur help/beginner troubleshooting, someone else can probably troubleshoot way better than me.

- I do have some experience, and I can use google pretty well. - Feel free to quote me I may respond soon.

 

Join team Red, my apprentice

 

STOP SIDING WITH NVIDIA

 

Setup:
Ryzen 7 5800X3D / Sapphire Nitro+ 7900XTX 24GB / ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming / Cooler Master ML360 Illusion CPU Cooler / EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 / Lian Li Dynamic Evo White Case / 2x16 GB Kingston FURY RAM / 2x 1TB Lexar 710 / iiYama 1440p 165HZ Montitor, iiYama 1080p 75Hz Monitor / Shure MV7 w/ Focusrite Scarlett Solo / GK61 Keyboard / Cooler Master MM712 (daily driver) Logitech G502-X (MMO mouse) / Soundcore Life Q20 w/ Arctis 3 w/ WF-1000XM3

 

CPU OC: -30 all cores @AutoGhz

GPU OC: 3Ghz Core 2750Mhz Memory w/ 25%W increase (460W)

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Posted

My Asus B550-E does the same, but you can just click no in the prompt and it never bothers you again.

If someone did not use reason to reach their conclusion in the first place, you cannot use reason to convince them otherwise.

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16 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

My Gigabyte board (X570 Master) hasn't done this, so maybe it was only in the BIOS for a few boards, but I'm also not on the newest BIOS so I don't know if it's only been added within the past few weeks or not.

For AM4 boards it was probably implemented with the AGESA 1.2.0.8 BIOS update, not sure what boards are affected.

More information is needed.

14 minutes ago, Levent said:

Everyone does this.

That's even worse.

14 minutes ago, Levent said:

Not to mention this feature has been around on all bioses since early 2021.

Doesn't matter how long it has been around, how come the community was silent about it?

14 minutes ago, Levent said:

I fail to see what is "really bad".

They don't ask for your permission, act like it's their own PC and download + run things without your consent.

A PC Enthusiast since 2011
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X@4.65GHz | GIGABYTE GTX 1660 GAMING OC @ Core 2085MHz Memory 5000MHz
Cinebench R23: 15669cb | Unigine Superposition 1080p Extreme: 3566
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2 minutes ago, Blqckqut said:

i find armory crate to be pretty usefull

idk any other app that i can use for rgb bc apparently icue and masterplus dont recognise my liquid cooler

 

and i have one from coolermaster.... so thats odd...

Doesn't change the fact that it asks to install it by default, just like this Gigabyte board is doing with APP Center. Whether you like Armory Crate or not is kinda irrelevant to this discussion, I'm sure the people at Gigabyte as wrong as they might be think people would like using APP Center to manage RGB and other motherboard utilities. 

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Just now, RONOTHAN## said:

Doesn't change the fact that it asks to install it by default, just like this Gigabyte board is doing with APP Center. Whether you like Armory Crate or not is kinda irrelevant to this discussion, I'm sure the people at Gigabyte as wrong as they might be think people would like using APP Center to manage RGB and other motherboard utilities. 

true, but you can also un-enable it in bios

Dont forget to mark as solution if your question is answered

Note: My advice is amateur help/beginner troubleshooting, someone else can probably troubleshoot way better than me.

- I do have some experience, and I can use google pretty well. - Feel free to quote me I may respond soon.

 

Join team Red, my apprentice

 

STOP SIDING WITH NVIDIA

 

Setup:
Ryzen 7 5800X3D / Sapphire Nitro+ 7900XTX 24GB / ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming / Cooler Master ML360 Illusion CPU Cooler / EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 / Lian Li Dynamic Evo White Case / 2x16 GB Kingston FURY RAM / 2x 1TB Lexar 710 / iiYama 1440p 165HZ Montitor, iiYama 1080p 75Hz Monitor / Shure MV7 w/ Focusrite Scarlett Solo / GK61 Keyboard / Cooler Master MM712 (daily driver) Logitech G502-X (MMO mouse) / Soundcore Life Q20 w/ Arctis 3 w/ WF-1000XM3

 

CPU OC: -30 all cores @AutoGhz

GPU OC: 3Ghz Core 2750Mhz Memory w/ 25%W increase (460W)

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40 minutes ago, Blqckqut said:

true, but you can also un-enable it in bios

Again, the discussion is about it being enabled by default. All the board vendors that do this let you disable it, but have it enabled by default. 

 

Personally it's not gonna change my board buying decisions one way or another, it's just an annoyance when first building the system, but I can get how people think it can be a bit of a security flaw. 

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4 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Again, the discussion is about it being enabled by default. All the board vendors that do this let you disable it, but have it enabled by default. 

 

Personally it's not gonna change by board buying decisions one way or another, it's just an annoyance when first building the system, but I can get how people think it can be a bit of a security flaw. 

i agree, i already bought their board for close to 200 euro, dont make me install software i didnt even know about

Dont forget to mark as solution if your question is answered

Note: My advice is amateur help/beginner troubleshooting, someone else can probably troubleshoot way better than me.

- I do have some experience, and I can use google pretty well. - Feel free to quote me I may respond soon.

 

Join team Red, my apprentice

 

STOP SIDING WITH NVIDIA

 

Setup:
Ryzen 7 5800X3D / Sapphire Nitro+ 7900XTX 24GB / ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming / Cooler Master ML360 Illusion CPU Cooler / EVGA SuperNova 850 G2 / Lian Li Dynamic Evo White Case / 2x16 GB Kingston FURY RAM / 2x 1TB Lexar 710 / iiYama 1440p 165HZ Montitor, iiYama 1080p 75Hz Monitor / Shure MV7 w/ Focusrite Scarlett Solo / GK61 Keyboard / Cooler Master MM712 (daily driver) Logitech G502-X (MMO mouse) / Soundcore Life Q20 w/ Arctis 3 w/ WF-1000XM3

 

CPU OC: -30 all cores @AutoGhz

GPU OC: 3Ghz Core 2750Mhz Memory w/ 25%W increase (460W)

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This is hilarious. Usually free software developers use PPI/ads offers

 

Gigabyte mobos are rock solid though

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59 minutes ago, Winterlight said:

Happy that I switch from Gigabyte to Asus. Had 2 Gigabyte motherboard all dead in ~2 year

ASUS does the same thing with Armoury crate

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13 hours ago, WereCat said:

ASUS does the same thing with Armoury crate

Steve just released a video ranting about motherboards and he mentioned it:

 

A PC Enthusiast since 2011
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X@4.65GHz | GIGABYTE GTX 1660 GAMING OC @ Core 2085MHz Memory 5000MHz
Cinebench R23: 15669cb | Unigine Superposition 1080p Extreme: 3566
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