Predator Control is a lightweight, bloat-free alternative to Acer PredatorSense for Acer Predator & Nitro laptops.
Direct ACPI WMI hardware control, ~18–25 MB RAM (Classic UI) / ~45–65 MB (Jelli UI) vs 1.5 GB+, and zero unnecessary telemetry!
| Dashboard, Thermals & GPU MUX Switch | RGB Lighting & System Controls |
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Note
The beautiful jellyfish-themed Jelli UI is now the default interface. You can switch back to the classic control panel at any time from the Jelli Settings panel.
✅ Status: Live & Stable as of v1.2.0
Predator Control now ships with the full Jelli UI — a bioluminescent jellyfish-themed interface that replaces the classic dark dashboard:
- 🌸 Interactive Jelli Mascot: A cute jellyfish companion that reacts to your laptop's thermals, fan speeds, and active power profiles.
- 🌊 Modern Glassmorphism Design: Deep ocean dark backdrop with glowing
#00E5FFneon teal and soft coral accents. - 🪶 Zero-Bloat Architecture: WebView2-hosted React frontend with true zero-footprint when disabled — Chromium processes are fully terminated on toggle-off.
- 🎛️ Jelli or Classic — Your Choice: Toggle between the Jelli UI and the original classic control panel from Settings at any time. When Jelli is off, it consumes zero CPU and zero RAM (all WebView2 child processes are killed).
- 📊 Floating Metrics HUD: Optional on-screen performance overlay with Off / Light / Default / Full modes.
- 🔗 Expand or Attach Flyout: Choose between Jelli as a standalone expanded window or as a tray-attached flyout.
Acer PredatorSense and Acer Care Center bundle 10+ background services and telemetry agents, an Electron frontend, and consume 500 MB – 1.5 GB of RAM.
Predator Control replaces all of that with direct ACPI WMI calls, using only ~18–25 MB RAM (Classic UI) / ~45–65 MB (Jelli UI), and keeps only the 2 essential hardware services (AASSvc and AcerLightingService) required for your laptop's fans, lighting, and GPU MUX switch!
| Metric | 🐌 Acer PredatorSense + Care Center | 🪼 Predator Control | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idle RAM | 500 MB – 1.5 GB | ~18–25 MB (Classic) / ~45–65 MB (Jelli) | 🟢 ~95% less RAM |
| Background Services | 10+ bloatware & telemetry daemons | 2 Essential Only | 🟢 All telemetry silenced |
| Idle CPU | 0.8 – 3.5% | < 0.1% / 0.0% | 🟢 Zero micro-stutter |
| Window Toggle Latency | 2.5 – 5.0 s | < 50 ms | 🟢 Instant launch |
| Mode Switch Latency | 500 – 1200 ms | < 30 ms | 🟢 Direct EC write |
| Game Focus Stealing | ❌ Focus steals during games | ✅ Never (WS_EX_NOACTIVATE) |
🟢 100% game-safe |
| In-Game FPS Counter | ❌ None | ✅ Zero-Injection Kernel ETW | 🟢 Anti-Cheat Safe |
Predator Control replaces the heavy PredatorSense Electron frontend while communicating directly with hardware.
The following services provide active communication channels needed for full feature fidelity:
| Service | Display Name | Role |
|---|---|---|
AASSvc |
Acer Agent Service | Direct Named Pipe (\\.\pipe\AcerAgentPipe) for real-time fan tachometers and GPU MUX switching. |
AcerLightingService |
Acer Lighting Service | Controls keyboard 4-zone lighting profiles and firmware color latching. |
The following services are disabled when the Disable Acer Bloatware Services toggle is enabled (or via disable_acer_bloatware.bat). Note: On certain models, disabling these may affect the 30-second backlight idle sleep timeout; unverified on non-standard configurations — disable at your own risk:
| Service | Display Name | Status Under Optimization |
|---|---|---|
AcerServiceSvc |
Acer Service Component | Disabled (Handles legacy APGe actions; direct WMI used where available) |
AcerDeviceEnablingServiceV2 |
Acer Device Enabling Service V2 | Disabled (Legacy driver bridge; direct ACPI WMI preferred) |
AcerCCAgentSvis |
Acer Care Center | Disabled (Background telemetry, periodic popups, RAM usage) |
AcerQAAgentSvis |
Acer Quick Access | Disabled (Legacy popups & slow OSD) |
AcerDIAgentSvis |
Acer Device Info | Disabled (Cloud telemetry uploads) |
ASMSvc |
Acer System Monitor Service | Disabled (Duplicate sensor polling causing CPU wakeups) |
| Mode | ACPI Code | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 🤫 Quiet | 0x00 |
Low fan ceiling, whisper acoustics, low power |
| ⚖️ Balanced | 0x01 |
Dynamic thermal balance for everyday use |
| 🏎️ Performance | 0x04 |
High CPU TDP / GPU TGP boost, aggressive fan curves |
| 🔥 Turbo | 0x05 |
Maximum GPU TGP overclock + 100% full fan blast (AC only) |
| 🍃 Eco | 0x06 |
Ultra-low power battery saver mode (DC auto-switch) |
- 🔘 Physical Mode Button Intercept: Cycles performance modes via low-level hardware scan codes & WMI
APGeEvent. - 🔌 AC/Battery Auto-Switch: Automatically toggles profiles when plugging in or unplugging power.
- 💨 Auto Fan: Hardware EC curve.
- 🚀 Max Fan Override: Instant 100% full speed cooling.
- 🎚️ Dual Custom Fan Sliders: Independent CPU & GPU fan sliders (0–100%).
- 📈 Graphical Fan Curve Designer: Interactive multi-point temperature-to-RPM editor.
- ❄️ CoolBoost™ Toggle: Raises thermal ceiling for emergency cooling.
- 📊 Live Dual Tachometer: Real-time RPM monitoring.
- 🎨 9 Animated Effects: Static, Breathing, Neon, Wave, Shifting, Zoom, Meteor, Twinkling, Off.
- 🖌️ 6 Neon Quick Presets: Teal, Crimson, Cyan, Amber, Purple, White.
- 🎯 4-Zone Independent RGB: Custom per-zone colors with live neon color indicators.
- 🎭 Full RGB Color Picker: Custom 24-bit Hex/RGB selection.
- 💤 30s Backlight Idle Timeout: Auto-sleeps LEDs on inactivity.
- ⚡ Zero-Lag Batching: Non-blocking background worker (~30ms apply time).
- 🔋 80% Battery Charge Limiter: Hardware register toggle to preserve battery lifespan.
- 🩺 Battery Health Diagnostics & Wear Monitor: Live display of battery health %, wear percentage, current vs design capacity (mWh), and cycle count, plus 1-click Windows Battery Report generation.
- 🎬🔊 Startup Animation & Sound: Toggles Acer Predator POST boot animation and chime directly through hardware services.
- ⚡ Power-off USB Charging: Turns designated USB port (marked with battery icon) into a power bank when laptop is off, sleeping, or hibernating, with automatic 30% battery cutoff reserve.
- 🔒 Windows Key Lock: Disables Windows key during gaming.
- ⚡ LCD Overdrive (3ms): Toggles panel response time.
- 🖱️ GPU MUX Switch: Optimus, Discrete (NVIDIA Only), and Advanced Optimus.
- 🖥️ Refresh Rate Switcher: Switch internal display (60Hz ↔ 165Hz/240Hz) and external monitors via Win32 CCD API.
On Acer Predator and Nitro laptops (such as Predator Helios and Nitro series), the boot chime and animation run at the hardware level during the Power-On Self-Test (POST) phase before Windows starts.
Important
If the boot animation and sound do not play on startup:
If POST Animation & Sound was muted or disabled in your laptop's BIOS setup, the hardware ignores desktop software requests. To restore and control it:
- Restart your laptop and immediately press
F2repeatedly as soon as the screen turns on to enter BIOS Setup. - Use the arrow keys to navigate to the Main tab.
- Scroll down to POST Animation & Sound (or Boot Sound depending on BIOS revision).
- Press
Enter, change the value toEnabled, and pressEnter. - Press
F10, select Yes, and hitEnterto save changes and reboot. - Once Windows starts, you can now toggle Startup Animation & Sound directly inside Predator Control anytime without rebooting into BIOS!
Power-off USB Charging turns your laptop into a portable power bank, allowing you to charge smartphones, controllers, wireless earbuds, or other USB devices even when the laptop is completely shut down, asleep, or hibernating.
- Which USB Port?
Look closely at your laptop's USB-A ports. The designated port is marked with a battery icon or lightning bolt next to the standard USB symbol. - Safety Battery Cutoff Reserve:
When your laptop is running on battery power (unplugged from AC), Power-off USB Charging automatically stops discharging if the laptop battery drops below 30%. This ensures your laptop never exhausts its own battery while powering external devices. - Direct Integration:
Predator Control synchronizes the state directly with the hardware controller and Acer configuration layer (USBChargeState,USBChargeSwitch, andUSBChargeLimit).
- ⚡ In-Game Gaming Overlay HUD: Real-time neon green FPS counter (powered by zero-injection Windows ETW kernel Present monitoring), CPU/GPU temperatures, fan RPMs, active GPU wattage (
0x0D), 60-second rolling sparkline performance graph, and battery gauge. Toggle withCtrl + Shift + O, drag anywhere withCtrl + Shift + Drag. - 🛡️ Non-Invasive Architecture: Uses standard Windows ETW kernel tracing (
Microsoft-Windows-DxgKrnlEvent ID 184 /DXGIEvent ID 42). Zero DLL injection, zero API hooking, completely non-invasive alongside active games. - 🔑 Dedicated Predator Key Intercept: Low-level hardware hook (
WH_KEYBOARD_LL) intercepting Acer scan code0x75(VK_0xFF) to toggle the app window instantly without stealing in-game focus. - 🏎️ High CPU Priority Enforcement: Automatically configures background task priority and runtime
ProcessPriorityClass.High(BasePriority=13) for zero latency and micro-stutter immunity during AAA gaming. - 🌊 Floating Mode OSD: Focus-safe banner with custom neon vector emblems on profile changes.
- 🎮 Game Sync Profiles: Automatically binds performance, fans, and RGB to game
.exelaunches.
Predator Control includes an ultra-lightweight, customizable in-game telemetry HUD, rendering live performance stats directly on your screen without any performance impact or anti-cheat triggers.
- Light Mode (
Light): Compact minimal HUD (FPS | GPU Temp & Watts | CPU Temp & Watts). - Default Mode (
Default): Balanced monitor (FPS | GPU & CPU Temp + Fan RPM | 60s Sparkline Graph | Power Draw). - Full Mode (
Full): Complete hardware dashboard (Default + GPU/CPU Load % Bars + VRAM & System RAM Bars). - Complete Mode (
Complete): Comprehensive all-in-one HUD displaying all enabled metrics simultaneously.
| Gesture / Shortcut | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
Ctrl + Shift + O |
Toggle Overlay | Shows or hides the overlay anywhere in Windows or games. |
Ctrl + Shift + Click |
Cycle Display Mode | Cycles: Light ➔ Default ➔ Full ➔ Complete ➔ Light. |
Ctrl + Shift + Drag |
Move Overlay | Repositions HUD on screen; coordinates persist across reboots. |
Ctrl + Shift + Mouse Wheel |
Scale HUD (50%–300%) | Dynamically increases/decreases size in 10% steps. |
Ctrl + Shift + Middle Click |
Reset Scale (100%) | Instantly resets HUD scaling back to standard 100%. |
Tip
Non-Invasive Architecture: The overlay utilizes standard Windows ETW kernel tracing (Microsoft-Windows-DxgKrnl Event ID 184 / DXGI Event ID 42). It requires zero DLL injection and zero API hooks, making it completely non-invasive and safe alongside running games.
PredatorControl/
├── src/
│ ├── Form1.cs # Main UI, layout, and IPC handlers
│ ├── WmiController.cs # ACPI WMI hardware driver (Power, Fans, RGB, Battery)
│ ├── PredatorKeyHook.cs # WH_KEYBOARD_LL low-level keyboard hook
│ ├── GameOverlayForm.cs # In-Game Gaming Overlay HUD
│ ├── EtwFpsMonitor.cs # Kernel ETW DxgKrnl / DXGI Present FPS monitor
│ ├── OSDOverlayForm.cs # Focus-safe floating HUD overlay
│ ├── DisplayCcdController.cs # Win32 CCD display & refresh rate switcher
│ ├── SingleInstanceIpc.cs # Named Pipe server & client for single-instance IPC
│ ├── TelemetryService.cs # CPU/GPU temperature and fan RPM poller
│ ├── ThemeManager.cs # UI Color palettes (Predator Teal, Nitro Crimson, OLED Black)
│ ├── FanCurveForm.cs # Graphical fan curve editor
│ ├── FanCurveGraph.cs # Fan curve interactive graph engine
│ ├── GameSyncController.cs # Auto profile switcher on game launch
│ ├── GameSyncForm.cs # Game sync profile management UI
│ ├── DarkScrollPanel.cs # Custom dark scroll panel
│ ├── Updater.cs # In-app GitHub release updater
│ ├── SelfCheck.cs # Self-diagnostics & environment checks
│ ├── PredatorButton.cs # Custom WinForms controls (Buttons, Sliders, Switches, Dropdowns)
│ └── PredatorControlApp.csproj # .NET 10.0 Windows Forms project definition
├── assets/
│ ├── banner.jpg # Jelli jellyfish mascot hero banner
│ ├── preview_overlay.png # In-Game Gaming Overlay HUD preview
│ ├── preview_dashboard.png # Dashboard, Thermals & MUX Switch preview
│ └── preview_controls.png # RGB Lighting & System Controls preview
├── README.md # Project documentation
└── .gitignore # Git ignore rules
- ⏱️ Debounce Race Fixed: A superseded timer can no longer remove or fire a newer pending action early. Ownership is verified inside the lock, actions run outside it, and every
CancellationTokenSourceis disposed. - 🧵 Clean Telemetry Shutdown: The worker task is retained and awaited on
Dispose(); the cancellation token is captured up front and no snapshot is published after shutdown begins. - 📈 FPS Buffer Synchronization: Frame writes, sampling and
TargetPidswitches now share a short lock and sampling works on a consistent snapshot. - 🎨 RGB Profile Safety: Defaults are deep-copied, loaded profiles are validated, writes are atomic, and a damaged profile file is moved aside (
.corrupt-<timestamp>) instead of overwritten. A temporarily unreadable file is never replaced. - 🔄 Safer Updater Handoff: Unique, ACL-restricted staging directory; download and hash through one exclusive handle; hash re-verified by the script right before replacement; move result checked with retries; previous version kept in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\PredatorControl\backup. - 🚀 Game Sync: One process enumeration per poll (instead of one per profile), profile priority preserved, and process handles always disposed.
- 🧹 No Forced Memory Trimming: Removed periodic
GC.Collect/WaitForPendingFinalizers/SetProcessWorkingSetSize. - 🎯 Honest GPU Utilization: No more fake utilization derived from power or temperature; it is only shown when a real measurement exists.
- 🔒 Authenticode Signature Verification: Enforced cryptographic Authenticode signature verification (
WinVerifyTrust+X509Chain) for all OEM drivers and service binaries prior to installation or registration, requiring explicitAcer Incorporatedpublisher verification. - 🛡️ Discovery Isolation: Removed searching user-writable directories (
appDir/oem_driversandparentOem/oem_drivers); restricted driver discovery strictly toC:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository. - ✋ Explicit User Consent: Added one-time user confirmation dialog before registering any new background Windows services (
ASMSvc,AcerDeviceEnablingServiceV2,AcerLightingService), with clean abort logic if declined.
- ⚡ Zero-Allocation Telemetry Loop: Converted
TelemetrySnapshotinto a stack-allocated readonly record struct (POD) and implemented cached string tables for sensor values, achieving 0 heap allocations during background sensor polling and gaming. - 📖 C++ Rosetta Stone Headers: Added native systems / C++ architectural documentation headers across all core hardware and networking files (
WmiController.cs,AcerAgentClient.cs,EtwFpsMonitor.cs,NvmlGpuMonitor.cs,Form1.cs). - 🎯 Direct Hardware Cause-and-Effect Mappings: Documented all ACPI EC registers, named pipes, and WMI methods with explicit
[TRIGGER] ➔ [HARDWARE I/O] ➔ [EFFECT]blocks. - 🧱 Structured Section Grouping: Organized hardware I/O, SCM optimization, telemetry, and Win32 message dispatching into clear, predictable architectural sections.
- 🛡️ Sensor Update Debouncing: Eliminated redundant WinForms GDI label redraws when sensor values remain unchanged between ticks.
- 🔋 Battery Health Diagnostics & Wear Monitor: Integrated live battery health %, wear percentage, current vs design capacity (mWh), and cycle count into the Battery Care section, plus 1-click Windows Battery Report generation.
- 🎬🔊 Startup Animation & Sound: Renamed and upgraded boot chime control to full Startup Animation & Sound with synchronous integration to
AcerAgentServiceand complete BIOS POST guide. - ⚡ Power-off USB Charging: Control power delivery to designated USB charging port while laptop is off, sleeping, or hibernating, with automatic 30% battery reserve cutoff protection.
- 🖥️ Multi-Monitor High-DPI Scaling: Resolved text overlap in the telemetry sensor cluster (CPU, GPU, fans, power) and eliminated horizontal clipping when moving the application across displays with differing DPI scaling factors.
- 🪟 Focus & Scroll Stability: Fixed focus-induced scroll snapping and scroll bounce when switching between active windows.
- 🛠️ Universal OEM Auto-Repair: Auto-repair subsystem verifies, restores, and configures background services across both Predator and Nitro chassis.
- 🔧 Jelli Toggle — True Off: Toggling Jelli off now kills all WebView2 child Chromium processes, guaranteeing zero CPU and zero RAM footprint when disabled.
- 🔧 Jelli Toggle — No Stuck Switching: Fixed a hang in the Settings panel where the toggle would get stuck on "Switching..." if settings validation failed; now uses a direct IPC legacy path.
- 🔧 Jelli Settings — Always Accessible: "Expand Jelli" and "Attached flyout" mode buttons are now always enabled regardless of Jelli's on/off state.
- 🎨 RGB Static — 4-Zone Colors Preserved: Selecting "All Zones" no longer overwrites individual saved zone colors; each zone retains its color when switching back to static mode.
- 🎨 RGB Animated Mode — Color Correct: Animated modes (Breathing, Shifting, Zoom, Meteor, Twinkling) now correctly use the active color picker color instead of zone 0's saved color.
- 🎨 RGB Brightness/Speed — Zone Aware: Changing brightness or speed in static 4-zone mode now correctly re-applies all individual zone colors instead of a single color.
- 🎨 RGB INI Sync — Correct Color Written:
SyncLightingProfileIninow writes zone 0's actual color (not the last animated color) to theSTATICsection, preventing amber fallback on reboot. - ⏱️ RGB Zone Sequencing: Increased inter-zone sleep from 15ms → 30ms for improved hardware EC reliability on static zone apply.
- 🪼 Jelli UI: Full WebView2-hosted React/TypeScript jellyfish-themed interface.
- 🎛️ Settings Panel: Toggle Jelli on/off, choose Expanded or Attached flyout mode, configure floating metrics HUD (Off / Light / Default / Full).
- 📊 Floating Metrics HUD: Real-time CPU/GPU stats with multiple display modes.
- ⚡ 3-Mode Gaming Overlay HUD (Light / Default / Full) with ETW kernel FPS counter.
- 🖥️ Native NVML GPU Telemetry for accurate wattage and load readings.
- 🎯 Tightened layout, README keyboard shortcut reference.
- 🪼 Jelli UI Interface: ✅ Live in v1.2.0
- 🎮 Raw Input HID Hook: Native hardware Predator Key sniffing (
UsagePage 0xFFA0) - ⚡ ACPI Event Sniffing: Deep
AcerEvent/APGeEventmapping - 🌊 RGB Wave Direction: Direction toggle (Left-to-Right / Right-to-Left)
- 🔋 USB Power-Off Charging: Direct firmware & QA sync toggle (Live in v1.3.0)
- 🩺 Hardware Health Diagnostics: Battery wear %, capacity & report generator (Live in v1.3.0)
- 💾 Storage Health Diagnostics: SSD S.M.A.R.T. readout
- .NET 10 SDK
- Windows 10/11 x64
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Hadisovic/PredatorControl.git
cd PredatorControl/src
# Build Release
dotnet build -c Release
# Publish Standalone Single-File Executable (~52.8 MB - No .NET required)
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:EnableCompressionInSingleFile=true -o "..\publish\standalone"
# Publish Framework-Dependent Single-File Executable (~3.68 MB - Requires .NET 10 Desktop Runtime)
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o "..\publish\win-x64"Because utilities that manipulate laptop hardware write directly to the Embedded Controller (EC) or BIOS-level WMI methods, keep these precautions in mind:
- Acer changes its EC register maps and WMI GUIDs frequently across chassis generations (e.g., older Helios 300 series vs. Helios 16/18 vs. Helios Neo series).
- Check the project's code/README or commit history to see which model or BIOS version the developer tested it against. Writing unexpected values to unsupported EC offsets can cause fan tachometers to report zero or cause the EC to freeze.
- Since this is an indie repo with a small user base, avoid downloading precompiled
.exereleases blind. - Review the repository's source files (C# .NET) to verify what drivers or external libraries it loads. Predator Control communicates directly via standard Windows WMI (
root\wmi) and Acer's official Agent Named Pipe, loading zero third-party kernel drivers.
- Any custom utility that communicates with low-level hardware or WMI without an expensive signed EV certificate will trigger a Windows Defender or SmartScreen prompt. This is expected for custom hardware tools, but all the more reason to inspect the source code first.
- If any custom fan control tool ever causes the fans to stick at 100% or stop responding to thermal loads, shutting the laptop down, unplugging AC power, and performing a pinhole battery/EC reset (holding the power button for 15–30 seconds) immediately restores factory EC defaults.
- Download the latest release from Releases:
PredatorControl-standalone.exe: Ready to run anywhere; no runtime installation needed (~52.8 MB).PredatorControl-win-x64.exe: Lightweight single-file executable for systems with .NET 10 Desktop Runtime (~3.68 MB).
- Run the executable as Administrator.
- (Optional) Toggle "Start with Windows" in settings to run silently in the system tray at login without startup delay.
You can interact with a running instance of Predator Control from PowerShell:
$pipe = New-Object System.IO.Pipes.NamedPipeClientStream(".", "AcerPredatorControl_IPC_Pipe", [System.IO.Pipes.PipeDirection]::Out)
$pipe.Connect(1000)
$writer = New-Object System.IO.StreamWriter($pipe)
$writer.AutoFlush = $true
# Available commands: "SHOW" | "TOGGLE" | "CYCLE_MODE" | "EXIT"
$writer.WriteLine("TOGGLE")
$writer.Close()
$pipe.Close()To silence Acer telemetry and OEM background services without breaking hardware controls:
- Built-in In-App Toggle: Under SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION, toggle "Optimize Acer Services (Disable OEM Bloatware)".
- It interacts directly with the Windows Service Control Manager (SCM) to safely stop and disable the 6 telemetry daemons (
AcerCCAgentSvis,AcerDIAgentSvis,AcerQAAgentSvis,ASMSvc,AcerServiceSvc,AcerDeviceEnablingServiceV2) while safeguarding essential hardware services (AASSvc,AcerLightingService). - Real-time counter reflects live daemon states matching Windows Task Manager (e.g.
6 of 6 bloatware services disabled & stopped). - Standalone batch utilities
disable_acer_bloatware.batandenable_acer_services.batremain available as headless recovery options.
To verify RAM footprint independently on your own hardware, run:
.\tools\measure_ram.ps1This samples both working set and private bytes across steady-state execution for both Classic UI and Jelli UI modes.
Special thanks and recognition to @supesonly for the foundational inspiration and project base:
Made with 🪼 and neon teal
Acer and PredatorSense are registered trademarks of Acer Inc. Predator Control is an independent open-source project.