PSA - Dell Support Assistant and Supportassist Update Plugin

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Technofreak

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#318099 14-Dec-2024 21:32

Recently my laptop (Dell Inspiron 14Z 5423) started running slow, mainly when I was using Outlook.

Initially I thought the problem was with Outlook.

Today I discovered that Dell Support Assistant and Supportassist Update Plugin were hogging the memory. Looking in Control Panel they were installed or updated on 6/12/2024, about the time my problem started.

I removed them using Control Panel, normal service resumed. 👍

I don't know how many people would be affected by this. My laptop is getting on and newer devices may not be affected.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

xpd

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#3320634 14-Dec-2024 22:15

I find a lot of manufacturer software usually tends to slow down/cause issues these days. I tend to blow away the install and start afresh. Much happier in knowing theres no "gotchas" waiting to be found.

HP was a shocker with their connection optimizer software...... would cause issues 9/10. Remove it, and all network issues vanished.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Handle9

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#3320646 14-Dec-2024 22:57

xpd:

I find a lot of manufacturer software usually tends to slow down/cause issues these days. I tend to blow away the install and start afresh. Much happier in knowing theres no "gotchas" waiting to be found.

HP was a shocker with their connection optimizer software...... would cause issues 9/10. Remove it, and all network issues vanished.

I generally assume any manufacturer supplied software on a windows machine is spyware/borderline malware these days. As you say a clean install and just installing required drivers is the way to go.

Oblivian

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#3320648 15-Dec-2024 01:34

xpd:
I find a lot of manufacturer software usually tends to slow down/cause issues these days. I tend to blow away the install and start afresh. Much happier in knowing theres no "gotchas" waiting to be found.

HP was a shocker with their connection optimizer software...... would cause issues 9/10. Remove it, and all network issues vanished.

It reintroduced itself in the last month or two and has done the same again on x360 G8s

Anything with a wifi6 enabled Intel chip. Tied to ICPS (intel connection performance suite)

Nothing wrong with dell command update or configured self check and notify.

Ragnor

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#3320767 15-Dec-2024 12:56

Usually a good idea to debloat an OEM (dell, hp etc) install leaving only actually required software (usually drivers for touchpad etc).

Extra power saving software may be worth keeping and sometimes you need to keep the OEM's gpu drivers sadly (ideally you want to just use intel/amd/nvidia's without OEM customisation).

Alternatively sometimes just download all the drivers and just do a clean install is ultimately cleaner/faster if you are familiar with the process.

fe31nz

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#3320987 15-Dec-2024 21:39

For my Dell G7 7700 laptop, you really need to keep the Dell software that does the BIOS updates - there is no other decent way to do BIOS updates. Unfortnately that is currently the new Support Assistant, which is a fairly big package for what it actually does.

MartinGZ

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#3321135 16-Dec-2024 10:49

I have 2 Dell XPS laptops.

I've not really had issues with Support Assist, apart from the fact that it is a huge extremely slow piece of junk that I only use to do updates with. I used to just use their separate updater, but that is being depreciated and SA is the only alternate left.
I rebuilt one of the laptops and noticed no difference with SA not installed. When I finally reinstalled SA, I again noticed no difference in running.
BIOS updates are sometimes done through the Windows Update, but Support Assist will often find updates more often. SA sometimes seems to come up with more updates than Windows, but that could just be a matter of timing.
There have been a huge number of BIOS updates for the laptops, and when checking the FAQs the vast majority are security related. How vulnerable the issues were - I've no idea, but these days I feel any security improvements should be actioned. Makes me wonder about the desktop which only had 1 BIOS update since it was built in 2016.

Oblivian

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#3321138 16-Dec-2024 11:04

Intel based boards used by OEMs are stacked with firmware for hardware onboard now as part of the UEFI.

So you get ethernet, usbc, thunderbolt firmware, camera, sound, amt, wifi etc all included. And with it the closer to Hardware layer exploits.

HP doing the same. They do a monthly security release with nearly every FW known to man included. Most the time it's ethernet or management/CPU code changes.