3d ago

Brother Printer... adware?!

When I boot up my comp (windows 10, Home Edition), I'm getting pop-ups for my Brother printer. Ive had the printer for 2 or 3 years, and have used their "Brother iPrint&Scan" to run it since day one, but the pop-ups have only been happening for a few weeks.

They always have this text:

...and I always click "Don't show this again", but then I boot my computer up and it's back.

Any way to kill it for good, without also killing the printer?

6 comments

Don't install all the printer stuff from the downloaded media, you only want to install the drivers. They have an option for this on their website. A million guides online.
- One feature introduced with Windows Vista was a standardised set of APIs that enabled Printer Drivers and Scanner Drivers without needing separate insecure executables. (Windows XP SP1 and earlier versions had huge vulnerabilities in the print stack and TWAIN interface).
  The problem with these APIs was that Printer and Scanner manufacturers were no longer able to spam users with their logo 5000 times per scan or print. None of them wanted to adopt them because their users may forget who made their printer.
I took a screenshot of this same ad (at least I assume, for ink at a discount) a week ago when it popped up, as it might be useful (not 'my' printer, family), and then hit 'don't show again' and have not seen it reappear. I have their Control Center 4 software installed, but not running on startup.
It was definitely weird but I gave it a pass as it has been the only time I've seen it or anything similar. I didn't dig deeper into what program is/could be running/displaying it, so I don't think I can be of help for that. But a data point.
- That was also my experience, followed by visible disgust and a couple of virus scans. I'll be only installing the most basic drivers once I phase out windows 10
Uninstall it all, wipe it out.
Then just install hopefully via Add Printer in settings. If it’s worth its salt, it’ll just work through standardised connections. Both Mac and windows.
If not, then you’re confined to their own drivers. Use the ones that came on the cd for the software and never update it. If it lets you.
Can you turn off notifications for specific apps/programs in Windows 10? I don't remember. I know you can do that in Windows 11.

6 comments