Unfortunately, as someone who has reviewed a whole load of gaming peripherals, I have a range of different products that make up my setup. I have a Razer mouse, a Logitech keyboard, a SteelSeries headset, and that's not the end of the list, thanks to my streaming setup and RGB mouse mat. And while all of these products are great, the countless software programs each one comes with are exhausting.
Suddenly, every day I'm bombarded with new notifications that my hardware needs firmware updates, the app engines need updates, and everything needs updates. Alongside this, each software program has multiple background processes running to ensure my kit functions correctly. It feels like peripheral software has moved away from being a utility and moved towards a resource-hogging, marketing platform, and I'm just at my limit. I want to take back my CPU power.
Stop blaming your CPU cooler for high temperatures — do this instead
It's probably not your cooler but your motherboard, case, and background apps
Why is the software so bad?
Modern software trends are killing PC performance
A host of different companion apps for peripherals essentially function as web browsers running as standalone apps. They are heavy, both memory and CPU-intensive, and are typically very inefficient. Logitech G Hub and Razer Synapse are two examples, though there are countless options to choose from, with practically every peripheral company having its own version. Both of these are set to open on startup to prevent my setup from malfunctioning, and it's a common occurrence for them to crash, not load correctly, or require rebooting — they just suck.
As if this wasn't enough of an issue, instead of one stable driver, companies now split each function (RGB, Macros, Cloud Sync, etc.) into a separate process so that if one crashes, the others can remain open. While this sounds like a good idea in theory, this leads to bloating. Why does my Razer Synapse have over 12 background processes open for one mouse to function?
Each of these apps uses between 1% and 3% of your CPU. While this doesn't sound like a lot to give up, multiply this by a separate software for each different brand of peripheral, and you're giving up CPU power equivalent to the difference between a mid-range and high-range processor.
Another thing that frustrates me to my core is the fact that I need a separate login for each of the programs, and then I need to regularly sign in for privacy reasons. I can not understand why on earth I need to sign in to adjust the RGB of my mouse or update the firmware of my webcam.
How to kill the bloat
The clean PC guide
There are alternative methods to downloading countless different peripheral apps to keep your setup functioning correctly. Here are a few steps you can take to prevent falling victim to PC bloat as I have.
Prioritize picking up peripherals with on-board profiles, as this lets you save your settings on the device itself rather than constantly using an app. If you do this, it will likely require you to download the software once, adjust your preferred settings like RGB, DPI, or macros, save the settings to your on-board device memory, and then uninstall the software immediately.
If you already have your peripherals and replacing them isn't an option, then another choice is picking up an open-source alternative application, which will allow you to control all of your peripherals from one software rather than having to reel off a list. There are many options for these on the market, but two of the most popular options are OpenRGB and SignalRGB.
Another step you can take if you find that you still want to use the proprietary software but don't want it to bloat your PC as much is turning off the processes on start up. This will ensure that the apps only open when you manually open them to adjust your settings, rather than always being open in the background. However, one thing to note if you opt for this method is that you might miss firmware updates and need to prompt for them manually.
Take back your processor
Your PC's resources belong to your games, not your mouse
While the hardware from these companies is great, the accompanying software to adjust its settings is poorly optimized, uses too much CPU, and just feels annoying and unnecessary. Having all of this software has bloated my PC, and I've finally had enough and started taking steps to get rid of it.
A great step forward is features like dynamic lighting, built into Windows and compatible with RGB across a range of devices without the need for extra applications. Hopefully, sooner or later, the settings of these devices can be adjusted without the need for downloading extra software, as was the case back in the good old days.