Request - Remove AlienFusion from Command Center

Dell Engineering,

Please consider removing AlienFusion from CommandCenter. It causes problems on systems. At least, make it optional or give users an easy way to turn it off or disable it.

Version: 2.5.52.0, A08

Why:

1. First of all, it is redundant. Unlike ThermalControls and AlienFX, it has no unique purpose.

2. All these settings are available inside Windows-7 Power Plan Settings. Win-7 does a fine job of setting the defaults (per. desktop or laptop) and gives users a proper way to modify them.

3. It causes problems. It seems to install it's own service. When it has problems, the machine hangs solid for 60 seconds with the HDD light on steady (but very little processor activity) ... this happens every 5 minutes, over and over.

The following errors are generated in the Event Viewer (during each hang):

Event 7009, Service Control Manager: A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the Alienware Fusion Service service to connect.
Event 7000, Service Control Manager: The Alienware Fusion Service service failed to start due to the following error: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

This failure occured on a lean install with only Win-7 64bit Ultimate (AW OEM) installed and Microsoft Security Essentials. All Microsoft Updates applied. MSE was not blocking anything and disabling real-time scanning was attempted. A full CC A08 uninstall, reboot, reinstall, reboot was tried several times. While trouble-shooting I went into each of the 3 sub-apps to make sure everything looked ok. It wasn't until I went into AlienFusion and make a minor change to the HighPerformance Profile (so that Apply was allowed) that the system started working properly.

This Win-7 was previously working fine. A recent Windows Update might have prompted the failure ... but the first CC re-install should have fixed it. While I had the system previously set to High Performance, I'm wondering if your CC A08 installer changes that.

Now that I know what is causing the hang, I'm pretty sure I can disable the Service next time if I need to, but other users might need an easier way.

I have seen this hanging behavior before ... on a new fresh install of Win-7 64bit Ultimate (Black AW OEM Disc) and well as a Retail Copy. That is why, when you do a fresh install, and the system comes up and you are trying to install the basic drivers (in the order you recommend) the system hangs every 5 minutes until you get the Command Center installed and configured. Since it also happens with the retail copy, my best guess is that the "G2 Desktop" Device plays a part.

The whole Alien Technolgy theme and mystery is fun and all, until the problems start ... then we just want working performance machines.