Recent Nvidia drivers include telemetry logging functionality

[HEXUS]

It isn't known exactly what data Nvidia is collecting, or why it wants it.

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[excalibur1814]

Ah, it's not Microsoft so there's nothing to complain about /s

[Friesiansam]

You can also download direct from Microsoft, without the Majorgeeks branding.

[Kato-2]

The same people who whine about telemetry and Windows are the same fools who own Android/iPhones tracking huge amounts of data in everything you do along with apps like Facebook/whatsapp etc and completely oblivious or don't care because it's not Microsoft.

At least in Windows you can turn it all off if your are the paranoid type.

[Corky34]

The same people who whine about telemetry and Windows are the same fools who own Android/iPhones tracking huge amounts of data in everything you do along with apps like Facebook/whatsapp etc and completely oblivious or don't care because it's not Microsoft.

Generalisation much!

It seems this telemetry guff was introduced with 375.70, at least I'm using 375.63 and there's no sign of these "services"

[satrow]

You can also download direct from Microsoft, without the Majorgeeks branding.

The image is from the article at Majorgeeks.

As far as I'm aware, Majorgeeks doesn't add branding/wrappers, etc. to any downloads from their servers, any adware/shareware etc. is clearly marked so on the description page.

[bridges009]

As far as I'm aware, Majorgeeks doesn't add branding/wrappers, etc. to any downloads from their servers, any adware/shareware etc. is clearly marked so on the description page.

That's right, it's why I use them as my main source for software downloads.

[this_is_gav]

It seems this telemetry guff was introduced with 375.70, at least I'm using 375.63 and there's no sign of these "services"

I can't confirm whether it's active, but it's listed and enabled on my system and I'm on 373.06 (I rolled back after the Windows 10 start menu cock-up with 375.57).

[Corky34]

Could it be getting installed with the default install, i always do custom install and only choose the driver, PhysX, and audio drivers.
Maybe it's part of the Geforce experience, although that doesn't explain the Wireless controller Service (I've never even seen that in their Graphics drivers).

[cowboysaif]

The same people who whine about telemetry and Windows are the same fools who own Android/iPhones tracking huge amounts of data in everything you do along with apps like Facebook/whatsapp etc and completely oblivious or don't care because it's not Microsoft.

At least in Windows you can turn it all off if your are the paranoid type.

I don't recall doing serious stuff in my fb/whatsapp app. It's a social platform. And android has app permissions. They dont just get away unnoticed. Microsoft's windows is not an app. People do work in windows. Telemetry data is more sensitive here.

[jigger]

No thank you Nvidia. Time to un install my graphics card.

[LSG501]

The biggest issue I have with the telemetry data is that it can invalidate nda's.

I can understand that companies want to get feedback on their hardware but it's WHAT they can gather that is the problem.

Supposedly this can get personal details like name, home address, telephone numbers and other things that can be given to marketing companies and others of a similar annoyance level. If you use geforce experience it can be linked to facebook etc too...

However I'm guessing this is likely just legalese protectionism and they don't go that far but I've disabled it anyway, hopefully it won't need to be done every time a new driver comes out.

Personally I think ANYTHING like this should be 'opt in' not automatically assumed as we accept just because it's stuck in the eula, it's not like we can run their hardware without their drivers so it's not like we can say no to any changes.

Corky... it was supposedly from geforce experience but some are saying it now gets installed with the normal drivers even if you don't install geforce.

[cyberguy]

I've done a recent reinstall of my Win 10 which includes reinstalling my NV drivers (I put version 375.70 straight away). After reading the article I kicked off my autoruns and filtered on nvidia.

There we no telemetry entries in my autoruns. For that matter there were no nvidia scheduler events set up at all.

I opened Geforce experience and it ran me around the park of logging in and scanning my games. After all that, lo & behold, all entries mentioned by the article were there.

My summary is that it appears it is not the driver that logs all that telemetry crap, but the geforce experience bloatware that does it. Makes sense if they are gonna track your games. I wonder how much nvidia is selling this marketing data to game publishers for...

[edzieba]

And to the surprise of absolutely nobody with a functioning brain, the telemetry it collects turns out to be the data needed for GFE to actually work.

[Savas]

And to the surprise of absolutely nobody with a functioning brain, the telemetry it collects turns out to be the data needed for GFE to actually work.

Oh, thanks! Luckily we have someone with a functioning brain here!

Alright, well, I don't seem to have a functioning brain and I want to keep my drivers auto updated how should I go about doing this? Because I find all this quite annoying and fishy, as you used to be able to keep your drivers updated by simply checking it or having it notify you, then "GFE" came into the picture, you had to use that, then you have to log in, now an update later it's collecting data.. I guess my not functioning brain shouldn't be surprised by all this because it's "needed"..

Seriously, are you a Nvidia shill or a super fanboy thinking this is how you do damage control?

[shaithis]

then "GFE" came into the picture, you had to use that, then you have to log in, now an update later it's collecting data.. I guess my not functioning brain shouldn't be surprised by all this because it's "needed"..

Seriously, are you a Nvidia shill or a super fanboy thinking this is how you do damage control?

There is no need to install GFE, you do not need it to download drivers - let alone have to log into anything.

If you want auto-driver updates for your video card, let Windows update handle it, if you don't like the delay or granularity of WU, then download them manually. It only takes 1-2 mins to check, download and install a driver.