Acer Edge Swift 16 Why Acer services running without being installed?

I am not a big fan of extra utilities and unneeded programs on the computers I manage, especially ones that have a history of security vulnerabilities. I therefore reinstall windows on all my organization's laptop, including several Acer Edge Swift 16 laptops. I then only install the drivers the drivers for full hardware functionality.

On my Acer laptops I have 3 acer services running:
Acer Care Center
Acer Device Info
Acer Quick Access

Does anyone know where they come from? Is there an easy way to uninstall the services? Is there any problem with disabling the services?

I know Acer Quick Access had some security issues a few years ago. I did not take any notes what drivers came via windows updates and what came from Acer.

I know these do provide some features, but I prefer a standard vanilla Windows setup for now.

[Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

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Commodore_1995#

OHello! You can uninstall programs by going to UNINSTALL OR CHANGE A PROGRAM.

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/696877/why-acer-services-running-without-being-installed

These programs are installed together with OEM Windows OS by Acer, if you don't have an older Aspire 5 keyboard you can safely uninstall these 3 programs in Windows "Add programs and apps", don't use 3rd-party "uninstaller" programs as these will cause more clutter in the registry, squandering your resources. Some Aspire 5 keyboards don't have Caps Lock and Num LK LEDs when toggled so you won't know if these and some other Fn keys are active, Acer Quick Access displays these key locks On Screen when pressed, QA is not required for modern keyboards and that is the only useful feature. Acer Care Center can restore the system to factory defaults and that is about all ACC is worth mentioning for, Windows' "Reset without losing your files" option does the same thing without Acer's wallpaper and lock screens so gamers may want to hang on to ACC only for that reason. Also, trial program versions and non-Windows browsers can be safely uninstalled as these will keep pestering you to subscribe, change your default settings and continuously run at the background, backing up your (personal) data to cloud, chatter online, "updating" daily, and interfere with Windows Wau updater, Defender's security and Edge functions. I recommend turning off Cloud completely, just use MS Office (free) drop box One Drive and your MS User Account for syncing/backing up your settings, passwords and bookmarks. Note that all these non-Windows programs have BU agents, scheduled tasks and services installed in Windows registry that you need to delete otherwise uninstalled programs will reinstall at some point and some may even continue to run after you think you have uninstalled these (anti-malware as an example). Services can be found in the registry with Regedit here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ delete the services under this key on the left screen that pertain to uninstalled programs. Same in Library-Task Scheduler, disable or delete tasks for uninstalled programs after the service has been deleted in the registry. 😉

bluewanderer

Thanks for the info.

I reinstalled windows 11. I did not reinstall the bloatware. The only Acer software I reinstalled were the drivers. These services are not listed in "Add or Remove Programs" or the control panel.

Does anyone know where these are installed from?

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1247822#Comment_1247822

Check Task Scheduler there may be an Acer updater that installs the programs, or check services, only applies after you used Reset this PC or Refresh, not for a Clean install.

Commodore_1995#

These programs must appear.

billsey

My guess is you did a reset instead of a clean install… A clean install from a vanilla Windows install image won't have any of those utilities.

bluewanderer

I hate to bring this back from the dead but Acer brought the services back, and more!

Today I ran Windows updates on one of my Swift 16 laptops. There were a several updated Acer drivers. Not only did the new drivers get installed, two Acer bloatware programs were added, and a AV scan detected a downloader in the c:\OEM folder for one of these programs. I also have a TON of running acer services:

Acer Care Center
Acer Device Enabling Service V2
Acer Device Info
Acer Experience Zone Component Service
Acer Quick Access
Acer Service Component Service
Acer System Monitor Service
AcerPixyService

I do not understand - these apps seem to have absolutely no usefulness and have in the past had SIGNIFICANT security issues.

Why are they being installed?

billsey

Any software installed by Windows update doesn't come from Acer. Microsoft is likely trying to get things back to where all the features work. You haven't told us which Swift 16 model you have, but if the pixy service is installed it's likely one of the ones that has the media control support on the touchpad. If that software is removed that functionality will no longer work…

bluewanderer

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1309884#Comment_1309884

Billsey - that is incorrect. Drivers can be sent by manufacturers to Microsoft and then, once approved, they are distributed through Windows update. That is what was installed in this case; Acer drivers distributed through Windows update.

Also, to be clear, the services were already installed when I did the manual driver installation during the initial install. However, they had been disabled as they are pointless for how we will be using the computer.

"but if the pixy service is installed it's likely one of the ones that has the media control support on the touchpad"

I just looked up that feature. People would actually want that? :) This laptop was not advertised as having this feature, and it does not appear to have this feature. If it does have the feature I would want it disabled.

In any case, that is besides the point. The point is I did not chose to install these features. In fact I chose to disable these features, yet they were re-enabled without my consent. This is my laptop, not Acer's.

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