I know I'm going to sound like I'm held up in a basement padded in tinfoil, but is it possible to install malicious software onto a graphics card? I recently bought a few used graphics cards off of Ebay. One to have for myself as a backup in case my main card dies, and one to throw into a build I'll be doing for my friend in the future.
I've changed dozens of graphics cards and know the routine: remove all old drivers, fresh install of the new ones, anti static precautions yada yada yada. I tested out my first card (gtx 280 for what it's worth) and no issues at all.
However, upon trying out my second card: (HD 48780) I noticed something sort of odd. After the routine of removing old drivers and swapping out cards, it prompted me to select to boot to windows 7. I've never been asked this before, and my mind instantly assumed the worst though I'm assuming I'm just being paranoid.
Is it possible to install malicious software onto a card? I've heard of it mentioned before, but always chalked it up to conspiracy theorist mumbo jumbo. And if not, what would prompt windows to ask me to boot to windows 7 when it never has before? 7 is the only OS i have installed.
I've changed dozens of graphics cards and know the routine: remove all old drivers, fresh install of the new ones, anti static precautions yada yada yada. I tested out my first card (gtx 280 for what it's worth) and no issues at all.
However, upon trying out my second card: (HD 48780) I noticed something sort of odd. After the routine of removing old drivers and swapping out cards, it prompted me to select to boot to windows 7. I've never been asked this before, and my mind instantly assumed the worst though I'm assuming I'm just being paranoid.
Is it possible to install malicious software onto a card? I've heard of it mentioned before, but always chalked it up to conspiracy theorist mumbo jumbo. And if not, what would prompt windows to ask me to boot to windows 7 when it never has before? 7 is the only OS i have installed.
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