Asus Utility and Bloatware Guide

Disable BTTray.exe from your task manger before you start gaming. This will disable the on screen caps notification. If you want to permenantly disable it, simply uncheck Bluetooth Software from your startup programs in msconfig.

 

Hello,

I recently purchased a ul80-vt and I cam across this forum about asus bloatware. I removed the ATKOSD2 utility. For volume and brightness I see that the former graphics have been replaced by basic graphics in the corner of the screen. However, when I use the button to change between the ATI graphics card and the integrated card I only get a grey box in the corner so I can't see what setting I am on.

Has anybody else had this issue? Am I stuck with reinstalling ATKOSD2 and just putting up with the graphical display?

Thanks in advance.

 

Perhaps they didn't implement the new GPU-switching icons, since at the time when they were still using only the "2D" icons, there were no switchable-GPU models. In which case you would need to reinstall or determine which GPU is active by other means.

 

Hey, is it possible to use the FancyStart, ControlDeck or FastBoot utilities in my g50vt even though those utilities didn't come with the driver & utility disc? I just got w7 and the FastBoot utility would be really nice to have, but I couldn't find it anywhere for g50vt.

 

maybe this needs a bump for updates for 2010 systems.

 

You can always try it. The worst that can happen is that it won't run. I'd probably backup all your important files just in case these programs messes up your system's registries.

It's been updated already, but if anyone sees anything that's missing, please feel free to post them

 

What is Asus AP Bank and Asus Web storage?

 

^

Useless junk

 

Updated with AP Bank and Web Storage. Thanks for bringing it up.

 

Is there an Asus specific diagnostics program in all this software?

 

I don't think there is. The closest you'd get is probably Asus NB Probe which is basically a temp and fan monitoring software.

 

Thanks for this thread!

 

Which of these application start running automatically using up valuable CPU processing & memory, and which do not run until invoked?

 

what about ASUS Configuration Utility and Intel Matrix Storage Manage

 

fail to find bios options in the UL series

 

I don't follow.

 

ATK ACPI
ATK ACPI is ASUS tool key of Advanced Configuration and Power Interface.
It’s the driver to make BIOS and OS communicate with each other to manage the power configuration.
On the other hand, it’s the utility to check the notebook whether is made by ASUS when the ASUS software is being installed.
http://support.asus.com/faq/asus-faq.aspx?no=1FC81719-8AB4-5EC8-AC07-C51466772F34&SLanguage=en-us

just got my n61jq today! thanks for the breakdown of what i need from the drivers/utilities cd.
sooo... do i need the ATK ACPI driver?

 

Yes, you'll need this for your laptop to run at different power states and work with the power4gear.

 

I'm starting to love the keyboard on this. It took some getting used to, and the keys are still a bit loose for my liking, but it's really good.

 

Thank you! I will pleased to add it on our Italian support site, just dropping you a message about that request.


Cheers,

 

What Italian website is this, may I ask?

 

Hi Guys,

A couple of questions please...

Is the Asus Configuration Utility the same thing as the ATK ACPI utility?

Also, under the utility section for the ul80vt, there's also "A system restoring Utility" and an "IP Switch Utility" listed.

Do I need all of these? I'm getting ready to do a clean install of Windows 7.

Thanks

 

ATK ACPI is a driver that allows communication between the BIOS and OS. You should have this installed.

The IP Switch Utility is also known as Net4Switch. It allows your to maintain your internet connections. You won't need this.

The "A system restoring Utility" I believe, refers to the AI Recovery Utility which is simply a restoring program that allows you to create your own recovery disks. Not needed unless you want to create your recovery disks.

I'm not familiar with ASUS configuration utility, but from what I know, it's a program that helps manage your wifi connections. I've never used it and as far as I can tell, it's not needed.

 

David, thank you!! This thread has been invaluable and saved me lots of time!!

Deborah

 

Do the keyboard shortcuts still work if you remove these utilities?

For example, can you still turn brightness up/down although there's no visual cue in the form of a progress bar?

 

In that case, you may also want to check out the link in my sig.

 

No, you will need the those utilities/drivers for the proper hotkeys/shortcuts to work.

 

Hey Kalim. Great job!! And you even have links to the pertinent drivers.

Life just got a little easier as I was in the process of downloading all of the ASUS drivers and utilities.

Reps for you!!

 

David, sir, you are my Lord and savior.

 

Great thread! Very helpful for removing bloatware from my N61JQ

 

Thank you David for this guide. Its very helpful to me.

Edit: Of course +rep

 

Asus Fancy Start does not seem to work for me :|

 

Try reinstall Fancy Start from your drivers disk or download a copy from the Asus website.

 

I wonder if it's a resolution problem? I should try rescaling it first when I have some time tomorrow maybe after exams.

 

Did you reset your BIOS? As I mentioned in the guide, "If you have reset your BIOS using the "Restore Defaults" option, this may not work as BIOS defaults to Disabled."

 

last time I checked fancystart is enabled in bios.
I wonder how it works, I assume it converts it into a simple uncompressed image format . something that contains all pixels and their colors I doubt it's copied to the BIOS flash, probably somewhere on the hdd in the recovery partition zone and the BIOS knows the hdd address where to read it from?
my guess.

 

did anyone try FancyStart with a non-standard resolution image?

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "non-standard" resolution, but FancyStart's max resolution is 1024X768, so any image smaller than that should work.

 

Another piece of bloatware added. This time it's the Amazon Kindle for PC app, pre-loaded on select Asus notebooks and netbooks.

 

Thanks A lot! This was very useful!
+1 rep

 

Thanks David, if I had searched on the subject before posing the question it would have saved everybody a lot of time and trouble.

 

+1 Rep, thanks dude!

this should also be stickied to the top of the forum!

 

ifl...........

 

subscribed.

 

More bloatware to come pre-loaded on Asus netbooks.

Asus App Store (updated in main post) and MeeGo (currently in the works - will update in main post when it becomes official).

 

I get a this computer is not supported message on a k52f when i try to run data security manager, is that normal? I mean why load the program on teh computer if it's not supported

 

Try run the installer again as the administrator. You can also try installing it in safe mode.

 

Whenever I switch between power4gear profiles my desktop icons reappear (I always have them hidden). Anyone know how to prevent this program from bringing them back up?? I am having to use the regular power saver/balanced/high performance profiles for now.

 

I had the same issues along with my desktop background being changed on restart. I uninstalled Power 4 Gear Hybrid and am now just using the Windows power plans. Problem solved (for me). I did loose the functionality of the Twin Turbo button. Not a big deal as it does not seem to actually boost performance.

 

David, I have a small question. I was tuning out the services that load during startup, and came across Cyberlink Media Library (CLMLSVC.exe) and PML Driver HPZ12 in the processes.

The thing is, I cant find CLMLsvc.exe anywhere in Services.msc or in msconfig. So how can I disable this at start up? Also, should I disable PML driver?