OH, MSI, WHY?

There are two types of people: the organized, who have everything clean, spick and span, and in the right place; and the chaos curators, who have everything in a mess, but kinda know where it’s all located. The latter, at least for now, is my life. As I’m finally moving into my first home, the word “pandemonium” comes to mind.

Time is short, and I find myself in bed each night wondering how I got there, and where the day’s gone. So when MSI’s Command Center threw up a notification on my rig telling me I had updates to install, I thought, why not?

What a mistake that was. I clicked “Yes,” MSI showcased a list of legit driver updates, I clicked “Continue,” and MSI finished up. I came back a moment later, and BAM! McAfee popped up: “Your antivirus has expired and you haven’t run a scan ever.”

That’s interesting, as I’ve never used McAfee on this system. In fact, I avoid all antivirus outside of Windows Defender. So, how the hell did McAfee get on my rig? The only conclusion I can make: MSI’s Command Center installed it on the sly.

Sure enough, I opened “Programs and Features,” and sitting there in the application list was McAfee, installed that day. I promptly removed it, and got the usual garbage. “Why am I leaving McAfee?” the customer feedback survey asks. “Because I don’t want bloatware, stealthily installed on my rig, and if I did need antivirus, I’d go with Avira or Bitdefender.”