Intel firmware recovery agent and Management Engine...do I need these?

[Rerednaw]

Hi folks!

I recently picked up a Lenovo Y70 (touch) It's a middle of the road system (laptop) with Windows 8 installed.

I've been getting hourly pop-ups from Intel about their firmware recovery agent and Management Engine.

Do I need these or may I uninstall them? I've never seen these before and after I googled it, they do not appear to be necessary unless I want to give unknown outside people the ability to come in and remotely brick my computer. And whenever I see "this accesses system stuff...but Intel needs your authorization" it makes me wary. If it is core functionality, then Intel already has access. I've said no since day 1 and it's been 2 months and I have not noticed anything melting/blowing up yet so I'm very tempted to uninstall the lot.

Advice please and thanks!

 

[Ketchup]

FWIW, I have never seen Intel software utilize a popup for software update. BUT I do see this:

https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2013/02/06/intel-manageability-firmware-recovery-agent

Which sounds similar so what you are seeing. If that is the case, it sounds like the app is overstating its importance IMO.

 

[bbhaag]

The only time I have ever seen it necessary to update the IME was when I needed to update the BIOS on my sons MSI P67A-GD55 mb. It needed a BIOS update to recognize a G530 cpu and in order to update the BIOS I needed to update the IME as well. I have no idea what IME does but I wouldn't uninstall it.

Why a P67 board needed a BIOS and a IME update to recognize a SB cpu is beyond me.

 

[vailr]

The ME software can be safely uninstalled, while still leaving the device driver installed.
Intel ME has 3 factors:
1. the ME firmware, which is included as part of the motherboard bios
2. the ME device driver
3. the ME Windows software that gets installed along with the device driver
#3 is only useful in corporate environments.
See:
http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/54860-about-intel-management-engine-firmware.html

@bbhaag : "Why a P67 board needed a BIOS and a IME update to recognize a SB cpu is beyond me."
That's due to Intel's convoluted security procedures regarding ME firmware. Updating the motherboard bios may also necessitate updating the ME firmware, but require doing that as a separate update procedure. That way, the bios and ME firmware are more "in sync" than otherwise would be the case.

 

[JackMDS]

It became like the 11th Commandment.

Thou shell connected everything possible to the Internet system of its provider.

Is it need? In many case Not, and sometimes it can be dangerous.

What to do? It is a matter of the user Judgment according to his/her system.

I block most of these connections form going out with a Firewall rule. So.. if it really needed I can disable the Rule and everything is Good.

 

[Whisper2]

I second Vailr's post. I contacted Intel a while ago to find out the value of MEI (and related) on a stand-alone desktop that is used only for recreation and no one is allowed to fiddle with except me. After parrying several BS responses, Intel stated that not installing it would not hurt my system but neither would installing it. They did state however, that I probably would want to disable the related "Services" that would be installed along with the driver, if I decided to install. They never identified any benefits to installing on a stand-alone system.

A few observations:

1) If a MEI driver is not installed, a "PCI Simple Communications Controller" exception will appear in Device Manager. I have not noticed any other effect. 2) Most of the MEI driver packages will give you two or three "Services" (that you do not need) along with the driver.

Bottom Line -- If you are using as a stand-alone system, delete all the software, disable the Services and either leave or uninstall the driver.

 

[Auric]

In addition, it may be disabled (thus not even presenting the device to Windows) by booting to Intel Management Engine BIOS Extension (MEBx) (consult manual and/or see BIOS/UEFI menu splash) and following steps such as:

>Login (may require initially setting a password)
>Intel Small Business Technology Configuration
>Manageability Feature Selection >Disabled