Solved Intel Driver & Support Assistant - Disabling from Startup

orlando1974 · May 13, 2022

Hi, I'm trying to reduce the amount of unecessary things running in the background or on startup. I notice I have Intel Driver & Support Assistant icon showing in the tray. When I look at the Startup Apps window, it is clearly toggled OFF (with words "No Impact") next to them. Well, if it's toggled off, why is it showing in my tray??
Is there another way to disable, or .... should I just uninstall completely?

Archigos · May 13, 2022

I use it as well... there's no option to turn that off (from the app itself) so the only thing to do is where you said you already checked. If it's off there and not honoring your preference, you could try to uninstall and reinstall it to see if that helps, otherwise, I guess it boils down to either ignoring it or dealing with it.

The way I do it, I have it turned on, that way whenever I reboot it checks for me, but once I see the green dot on the icon, I right-click and Exit it. I don't reboot daily so it's not running 'most' of the time.

orlando1974 · May 13, 2022

Oh, that's a good workaround. I don't reboot daily either. Usually just set to sleep at night. Thanks for the tip!

torchwood · May 13, 2022

you also have the option in Services local to set it to Manual, default is automatic

The-Hive · May 13, 2022

Task Manager>Startup disable it from there, you can create a shortcut to the executable if you wish so as to run it as and when you want it to run

orlando1974 · May 13, 2022

The-Hive said:
Task Manager>Startup disable it from there, you can create a shortcut to the executable if you wish so as to run it as and when you want it to run

It already indicates disabled there, as it does with the toggle off in the Startup Apps dashboard. But thank you for the additional suggestion!

The-Hive · May 13, 2022

That is strange, a few things to look at, Is it just that app or do others do the same when turned off? have you checked it's privileges and permissions ? are you running it as an administrator? I don't know the answer but for some reason it is not responding to being disabled in startup but trying different things will hopefully find the answer

orlando1974 · May 13, 2022

@Archigos Hmmm I spoke too soon.... looks like the icon has come back in the tray (with green dot) a few hours after I clicked EXIT. And I did not reboot. Odd!!!

@The-Hive I don't know if it's running as Admin or what its permissions are. Other items I've toggled off seem to work properly.

It's annoying that the workaround proposed by @Archigos did not stick in my case... the app seems to have a mind of its own. I wonder if I should uninstall it. What is its purpose? Does Windows Update not check for new drivers to hardware anyway?

The-Hive · May 13, 2022

It is easy to uninstall / reinstall do a registry clean between the two
Have a look at this site as well

Download Intel Drivers and Software

Download new and previously released drivers including support software, bios, utilities, firmware and patches for Intel products.

www.intel.com

Fabler2 · May 13, 2022

DSATray.exe disabled in task manager.
Services.msc, turn both to manual and stop the two services.

2022-05-13 19_46_22-Intel(R) Driver & Support Assistant Properties (Local Computer).png

2022-05-13 19_46_57-Intel(R) Driver & Support Assistant Updater Properties (Local Computer).png

The-Hive · May 13, 2022

Go with @Fabler2 he knows what's what

Fabler2 · May 13, 2022

Just remember to turn both services on before scanning again and turn off when finished.

orlando1974 · May 13, 2022

Fabler2 said:
DSATray.exe disabled in task manager.
Services.msc, turn both to manual and stop the two services.

View attachment 29120 View attachment 29121

Thank you! Done, will report back if somehow it doesn't stick!
QUESTION: Which of the 2 programs would I manually run to check for driver updates? The first one, or the one that has the word Updater at the end?

Fabler2 · May 13, 2022

orlando1974 said:
Thank you! Done, will report back if somehow it doesn't stick!
QUESTION: Which of the 2 programs would I manually run to check for driver updates? The first one, or the one that has the word Updater at the end?

Turn both on (keep on manual) do a scan then turn off again. Right click the icon in system tray and select exit. PITA to do but I only check once a while.