AMD\ATI Catalyst Control Center-Security Software Compatibility

[hjlbx]

Hello,

My system is a low-end AMD laptop (A8-6410).

AMD\ATI Catalyst Control Center (CCC) came pre-installed from the OEM... Toshiba.

Of all the pre-installed software, CCC has caused the most problems.

Some of those problems have been serious.

For example, Comodo auto-sandboxes some modules as "Unrecognized." On some systems this can cause critical issues up-to-and-including a "black screen"\unbootable system.

Issues

• Some modules are not digitally signed (some vendors have not yet white-listed, e.g. Comodo*).
• By default configured to start at Windows boot (causes slow start-up & a waste of resources for low-end systems).
• Completely unnecessary... unless you are serious gamer with high-end gaming system.
• Some AV incompatibility (e.g. it appears BitDefender doesn't get along well with it).

* I think it is AMD's responsibility to digitally sign all their software and get it white-listed - and not Comodo's responsibility to make sure it is white-listed. The failure is completely AMD's.

I say completely unnecessary because the advanced graphics functionality that CCC offers is useless on low-end systems; for the most part, the games which truly benefit from CCC cannot be run on one of AMD's low-end systems.

I won't call it "crapware" because it is not, but it certainly is "bloatware" on a low-end system.

Unfortunately, AMD bundles CCC with their various drivers. This leads the user to think that they need CCC for their system graphics to work properly. Plus, they bundle other AMD software of dubious value - such as QuickStream.

It is best to download any needed drivers directly from your systems OEM\manufacturer website. And upgrading to the most recent graphics driver is not always the best course of action.

Be aware that AMD packages drivers and CCC together even for OEMs. The way I solved this problem is to clean-install the Windows OS. Out of the 10 pre-installed drivers I only needed to re-install two... and even then I didn't absolutely need them as the generic Microsoft drivers worked fine. I re-installed updated Wifi\LAN drivers for their security patches.

CCC can be uninstalled and you cannot notice any difference in graphics performance or quality... as I said, CCC is targeted primarily to users with high-end gaming systems - not the typical AMD low-end, entry-level laptop.

After uninstalling CCC my system is more responsive and it gets along much better with most AV and virtualization software.

The problem is not always the AV software; sometimes the real problem is what you have installed on your system.

In other words, it is not reasonable to expect any AV to integrate perfectly with every single piece of software known to the IT world. That is a completely unrealistic expectation.

I did not need CCC... so I removed it. The security benefits far outweigh any benefits from CCC.

When something doesn't work right... immediately, typically, the AV softs get blamed.

 

[illumination]

CIS has had this issue with CCC for a few years now. My first laptop was AMD, and i ran CIS on it. I would white list CCC manually, then i would go into start up and disable CCC from starting up, only opening it when i needed manually as well. This solved all my issues with it.

 

[hjlbx]

CIS has had this issue with CCC for a few years now. My first laptop was AMD, and i ran CIS on it. I would white list CCC manually, then i would go into start up and disable CCC from starting up, only opening it when i needed manually as well. This solved all my issues with it.

That really is the only way... at least with Comodo if the user experiences a problem such as this, they can fix it locally on their system - except in rare cases.

Novice won't know about this type of issue - and they end blaming Comodo and removing it because "it's bad," "it doesn't work," "it's crap..."

Anyhow, I've followed the same routine as you describe, but in the end found that CCC didn't add anything significantly worthwhile on my system.

I have a puny A8... and I am not a gamer.

So it makes sense for me to remove it.

I guess the real point I'm trying to make in my original post is that user's need to not be so reluctant to remove softs that they simply do not need. When I first started out I was terribly OCD about my system... expected every soft to work perfectly with every other soft.

I learned real quick that is incorrect.

For the sake of increased security it is best to adapt... even compromise.

I have found that I can always find alternative softs that get along with my AV of choice - and I don't have to sacrifice any meaningful functionality really.