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XPS 8940, disable or remove SupportAssist
I have an XPS 8940 (i7-11700, RTX 2060 Super) that is almost a year old and therefore only a little time left on its warranty. The main issues I've had revolve around SupportAssist notifications about upgrading the BIOS, which starting with 2.4.0 have caused some startup issues. Am wondering if it might not be a good idea to either disable or uninstall SupportAssist, especially if DELL is going to recommend installing updates that negatively impact my system. Have been informed by DELL that if that happens and my warranty has expired that DELL will not support. Therefore, perhaps I should stop those update temptations, but the question is what is the definitive way to do that on my XPS 8940. Any help?
lmacri
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June 29th, 2022 08:00
Hi ishmael:
You might want to read sewing1243's 20-Jun-2022 thread SupportAssist Fails to Check "Get Drivers and Downloads" After BIOS Update. This user has had issues with SupportAssist since they updated the BIOS on their XPS 8940.
I don't want SupportAssist or Dell SupportAssist Remediation (a.k.a. SupportAssist OS Recovery) running on my Inspiron 5584 at boot-up and currently have both those services DISABLED at Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Services. This won't stop the Dell Data Vault and other associated services from loading into memory but I don't care as long as Support Assist and Dell SupportAssist Remediation aren't running their background tasks. See my 03-Apr-2022 post in r72019's SupportAssist PC-Doctor Module, 100% CPU and RAM Usage! that explains why I now use Dell Update to check for available Dell software and driver updates, and use Macrium Reflect Free system imaging software to create emergency media (e.g., a bootable USB stick) and the occasional full disk image in case I have to perform an emergency system recovery.
If you don't want SupportAssist to run automatic checks for updates also note that you can simply DISABLE all background scans at Settings | Automate Scans and Optimizations | Scan Your System and Drivers. You can also stop Dell SupportAssist Remediation from creating daily Dell system repair points (snapshots) if you DISABLE Settings | System Repair | System Repair Is Turned On (see my 29-Jun-2022 image in alanchown1's Support Assist Using SSD Space??).
Whenever I need to reinstall SupportAssist I usually follow Dell employee DELL-Chris M's instructions at SA Uninstall/Reinstall, but instead of uninstalling all my SA-related programs (including Dell SupportAssist Remediation and Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update) from Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features I use Revo Uninstaller Free in "Aggressive" mode to clean up orphaned files and registry entries left behind by the "standard" uninstaller.
Dell Tech Support also updated their YouTube video at Dell SupportAssist Not Installing on 17-Jun-2022 that includes a list of orphaned files and registry entries that are sometimes left behind after a SupportAssist uninstall that can be manually deleted for a cleaner uninstall.
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64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1766 * Firefox v102.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2205.7-1.1.19300.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.10.200-1.0.1702 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.6758 * Dell SupportAssist v3.11.4.29 * Dell SupportAssist Remediation v5.5.2.16157 * Dell Update for Windows Universal v4.5.0 * Inspiron 5583/5584 BIOS v1.18.0 * Revo Uninstaller Free Portable v2.3.9
Dell Inspiron 15 5584, Intel i5-8265U CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD, Intel UHD Graphics 620
JOcean
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June 28th, 2022 07:00
This forum thread should help with uninstalling.
ishmael
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June 28th, 2022 12:00
Thanks, JOcean, for replying. The thread you posted is about 4 years old, and unfortunately, does not really seem to answer clearly the original posters questions. On my 8940, I see several Dell services running, two of which are called Dell SupporAssist and Dell SupportAssist Remediation. It appears these can be disabled from running at startup, albeit have not tried yet, or be uninstalled. Are these the only services that the Community believes should be disabled or removed to prevent Dell from inadvertently but perhaps negatively impacting their XPS 8940 system?
ishmael
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July 1st, 2022 06:00
Hi lmacri,
Much thanks for your thorough and informative reply. I did end up setting those two SupportAssist services to manual and will now monitor Dell updates manually. I must admit am surprised that Dell would post updates such as BIOS that result in regressing the system, and then not want to take support calls if the user's warranty has expired. Does not seem like a good business model