and things went downhill from there

I've recently been dealing with some problems with the controlling software for my headset and mouse. They need special driving software because both are equipped with controllable LEDs. I didn't buy them for the flashy lights, I bought them for their other specifications, but the blinking bits came as part of the package.

I had the driver software set to advise me of updates, and to date they've been benign, so I've usually just applied the patches as they've shown up.

The latest update stalled on application, and left the software crippled. I could still use the mouse and headset, but I could no longer access the settings. Since the settings include audio profiles, I wanted access. After some trial and error, I finally just removed the software and manually installed the upgrade from the manufacturer's site.

And things rapidly got worse from there.

As soon as the new configuration software fired up, I knew that I'd made a mistake. The first thing it did was prompt me to log in to my account. I had to click through a few steps to bypass that, and found myself staring at a wall of ads. The software now also included capture and streaming services for gamers -- assuming you created an account. Navigation was counter-intuitive, and when I tried to modify the headphone settings it warned me that I was missing a software component.

A search on Google led me to Reddit, where somebody kindly linked to the last version of the software engine prior to them adding all of the bloat. I uninstalled the software and installed that version, and it brought up the familiar interface, but still complained that it was missing software for the headphone settings. It also advised that there was an update for the engine. I assumed that might have been the missing component it needed for the settings, so I told it to update the engine.

And it promptly reinstalled all of the awful bloatware.

I uninstalled it again, reinstalled the older version, and finally figure out how to install the missing component for the settings page. I set up my headphone again (since at some point in the process it forgot all of my settings) and things are back to normal again. Oddly, the same software somehow managed to remember my previous mouse settings (for acceleration, sensitivity, lighting and the like).

Once I had it all running, I disabled "automatic updates" and told it not to notify me of new versions.

It's amazing to me me how badly a company can destroy a product in one update.

Oh boy - I get to go through an itemized list of everything I had on my existing lab machine and justify why I need it on the new machine.

Alas, the forms to not have a check box that reads, "Pretend the reasons I gave the last time are still true today."

I didn't think that it was possible to lock down a machine (and still keep it barely functional enough to use) after their handiwork with our early NT 3.51 machines, but the subsequent Win2K and then XP machines proved me wrong. The current one is set to the wrong resolution for the crappy analogue monitor on which I am trying to configure it enough to be usable, and not only can I not change the resolution, but I can't even adjust the True Type fonts in order to make it readable.

Pretty much anything I click that isn't already installed on the Start menu pops up a request for an admin password. I will be able to fix both of those once (if) the request for LAC comes through, but in the mean time the machine straddles the line of useless.

I need to save up for one of those spiders that you hang on the front of your monitor so that you can tune the brightness and colour balance. This picture looks much better at home than it does at work.