LG Split Screen Display Software Leaves Gaping Security Hole For Your PC

If you own an LG ultrawide display and installed its included split screen software, you should take note. According to a user report, installing this software will disable the User Account Control security feature in Windows without your consent. You're not even bound to notice right away because of its subtlety.

Introduced in Windows Vista, UAC is designed to protect users from bad software that could install itself without restriction. Whenever an application is installed to a system folder, UAC will kick in to ask if it was expected. Many consider UAC to be nothing more than a nag, but its purpose is important. Without it, software could install in the background without you knowing, and we all know what can come from that.

Why one earth would LG's software take it upon itself to disable UAC? That's a great question. It sounds like someone wanted to do their job lazily, cutting corners to just get the software out the door. What I find most interesting about this is that software other than Windows itself can actually disable UAC. I just wouldn't think it'd be possible to do that without going into the Control Panel - you know, for "security".

Nonetheless, it's a little appalling that whoever was in charge of developing this software decided to take it upon themselves to disable a core security feature in Windows, but I don't suspect it'll take very long from this point to see the issue fixed.

For its part, LG reached out to Engadget to reveal that it is investigating the matter. "We have been made aware of the problem and will look into this immediately," said LG in a statement. "We appreciate Mr. Bachner bringing this to our attention and expect to have a response shortly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused."