NVIDIA adds far more visual option to not install GeForce Experience




Do you remember how Geforce Experience first was a feature, initially an optional separated install and then pretty much became a mandatory installation tied to the drivers, and then cloud logins like Facebook etc? Well, there always has been an option to not install it. If you installed a GeForce driver, you had to choose a custom installation and only then you would see the option to not install it listed in a drop-down list.
This has been changed, and though we're not sure why that is, we do think it might have been GDPR-related as the actual change took effect when the new legislation became active somewhere last month. If you install a recent NVIDIA GeForce Driver, you will now be specifically asked if you actually want to install GeForce Experience. It is a significant change and a far more clear in relation to consent. Once you install the driver you now get two options, install just the driver, or both the driver and GeForce Experience. This new setup was noticed by our colleagues from the Dutch HWI, props go out to them for this spot as I certainly missed it a month or so ago. Below two examples of how it is now, and how it was hidden in the past.
GeForce Experience has been loved and hated. Loved for it's streaming features, the ability to record with Shadowplay, but hated for transmitting all kinds of telemetry data of your PC and the fact that if you want to use say a feature like shadowplay, you are forced to use a nvidia, google or facebook account.
Above the new situation, you'll immediately get the option to choose both the driver and GeForce Experience or just the driver.
In the old situation, GFE was installed automatically, unless you specifically ticked custom installed, go to a following screen and deselect GFE.
Once you hit the custom installation, here you could unflag GeForce Experience to be skipped during installation.
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Stuff like this boggles my mind why anyone ever whines about being "forced" to install something. How about actually pay attention and stop accepting all the defaults? It's kind of pathetic Nvidia has to cater to these people. Sure, maybe GFE should've been disabled by default, but if everyone just clicks "next" the whole way through the installer, people wouldn't even know it existed. It may be crappy software but Nvidia didn't pay developers to create it for no reason.
On a bit of a tangent - this is really no different than people who go on the Steam forums and make ridiculous comments like "whats the control to do
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I'm kind of lazy and like that Nvidia will pick all the optimized options for me in my games, unless I want to change them myself to take screenshots or have a better performance for competition.
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Stuff like this boggles my mind why anyone ever whines about being "forced" to install something. How about actually pay attention and stop accepting all the defaults? It's kind of pathetic Nvidia has to cater to these people. Sure, maybe GFE should've been disabled by default, but if everyone just clicks "next" the whole way through the installer, people wouldn't even know it existed. It may be crappy software but Nvidia didn't pay developers to create it for no reason.
On a bit of a tangent - this is really no different than people who go on the Steam forums and make ridiculous comments like "whats the control to do
Totally with you on the GFE thing, besides i've used it some time ago, it was ok, i just stopped using it because i really didn't find it that useful, and i'm not updating drivers every time a new one comes out.
The game thing is different tho, a game that doesn't let you change control is unacceptable, no matter there's a third party software that addresses it, a game mush ship respecting certain basic requirements, luckily i don't remember ever playing anything that ridiculous.
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Oh I 100% agree with you there - it is tedious and unnecessary to have locked controls. But that's a bit rare, and besides the point (I just pointed it out because I figured someone was going to mention it anyway, so I'd beat them to the punch). The point is, you don't need to go on forums asking people what the controls are.
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Yeah agreed, that's like the last resort
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So if I understand correctly, it's basically just an extra step/click for GDPR/AVG purposes before you can properly select which features to install from the installation pack. Which is the sane option anyway

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I always used custom install even with this new visual option I preferred to click custom install just to make sure GFE wasn't selected and occasionally I like to check the clean install option as well
I like that I can opt out from the start now tho but yeah people need to read more I mean this option has always been there and anyone who just clicks through when installing things is asking for trouble, the amount of times I've had to remove malware from machines because people just don't pay attention, it's ridiculous.
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I always used custom install even with this new visual option I preferred to click custom install just to make sure GFE wasn't selected and occasionally I like to check the clean install option as well
I like that I can opt out from the start now tho but yeah people need to read more I mean this option has always been there and anyone who just clicks through when installing things is asking for trouble, the amount of times I've had to remove malware from machines because people just don't pay attention, it's ridiculous.
Yeah...It's part of ignorance and superficiality society is affected with, but whatever.
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Though according to GDPR rules, shouldn't it default to "opt-out" as a person needs to specifically agree to "opt-in"?
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Good to know, haven't updated my driver for like 2-3 months, so I didn't know of this. There was a time where I'd update to every single new version, run benchmarks etc. But now I just can't be bothered to do it anymore unless I specifically need it for a new game, or as it happens from time to time, when they screw over an older game...
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Nvidia did this to comply with UE regulation regarding privacy settings and potential abuse of consumers data, nothing more than that. Geforce experience was spyware disguised as an GPU utility...
You have a point but you have to remember most people understand very little about computers, they just want something that works and companies take advantage of that... It´s like the games EULA, who´s gonna read that crap until the end and understand all of it???...
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Been using the custom install option since it was first implemented, and always only install the driver.
I also block the installer from phoning home during installation.
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Isn't the "clean version" much better (read: minimalistic) than this?
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Do you remember how Geforce Experience first was a feature, initially an optional separated install and then pretty much became a mandatory installation tied to the drivers, and then cloud logins like Facebook etc? Well, there always has been an option to not install it. If you installed a GeForce driver, you had to choose a custom installation and only then you would see the option to not install it listed in a long drop-down list...
NVIDIA adds far more visual option to not install GeForce Experience
It is not and never has beem MANDATORY. Ever.
I'm kind of lazy and like that Nvidia will pick all the optimized options for me in my games, unless I want to change them myself to take screenshots or have a better performance for competition.
Alas, optimzed options in GFE are often flat out WRONG. Don't use it.
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That's kinda "old" news and wonder why nobody noticed that. It's been like this since GDPR went live.