What Is the Killer Control Center in Windows 10, 11? [Dell, Alienware]

So, what is Killer Control Center? Well, the Killer Control Center is an application that works with your Intel® Killer™ Enabled Device to help prioritize all the traffic going through your network. To prevent buffering on your games and streams, the Killer Control Center prioritizes which applications get the data packet first at the expense of the unprioritized.

Right out of the box, it’s already set up for users to go ahead and run their games or other apps. All you need to do is set the speed limit to your internet provider’s speed.

However, there’s more that the Killer Control Center can do. So, in this article, I’ll first walk you through everything you need to know about the Killer Control Center. Then, we’ll see how it works, the pros and cons of using this software, and much more.

What Is the Killer Control Center and How Does It Work? Everything You Need to Know

Intel Killer Control Center is a program that accesses and prioritizes certain applications to ensure that the most speed-demanding apps first access your network bandwidth. In addition, it ensures that each application on your computer is assigned the needed Internet speed based on your usage pattern.

If there is no Intel Killer Control Center, all applications on your PC connecting to the Internet will have the same priority and treatment, reducing Internet speed. For example, imagine you are playing an online game, downloading a large file, and streaming a video on YouTube simultaneously. The YouTube streaming and download may encounter issues because they use the same bandwidth.

The Killer Control Center program will assign more bandwidth to the data-intensive game, the video streaming, and finally, the download. The video will buffer first before it streams correctly.

When you are streaming videos and downloading a file, the first will take priority over the second because it will require a higher bandwidth resulting in less buffering and vividly smoother playback.

Usually, the Killer Control Center upgrades your network bandwidth and improves your Internet speed. However, sometimes it does not work this way, and your Internet speeds become slower.

There are certain things you can try out to boost Internet speed:

• Download driver updates for the network adapter, which plays a huge role in the operation of the Killer Control Center. Corrupt network drivers can be an issue for the Killer network control centers.
• Update the Killer Control Center software to the latest version to fix glitches or bugs that might be present in the old version.
• Restore the Killer Control Center to the default settings to see if it will run normally.
• Uninstall and reinstall the software and run it again

Pros and cons of the Killer Control Center

There’s no doubt that the Killer Control Center helps improve your network speed and bandwidth. But it also comes with problems that may negatively affect how you use your device while browsing the Internet.

Here are some advantages of using the Intel Killer Control Center:

Gives priority to applications based on their network bandwidth needs

The Killer Control Center will categorize different apps based on how much Internet bandwidth they need. KCC will place apps with high demand for Internet bandwidth at top priority. Meanwhile, it will give apps with less demand less priority.

Improves network bandwidth and Internet speed

I already explained how the Killer Control Center allows your apps to load faster and perform better as you use them. Instead of allowing your apps to use the same bandwidth, leading to some apps lagging, the Killer Control Center ensures the apps get access to Internet speed as they need them.

Disadvantage

Leads to very slow Internet access for some apps

Some apps may be unable to access the Internet or run poorly because the Killer Control Center limits or completely blocks data packets from reaching them. This issue may result from bugs or issues with the program. You can resolve it by either reinstalling or updating the program.

How to Use Killer Control Center

1. Open the Killer Control Center. The first page on Killer Control is the Overview Page. The top section shows the current status of the Killer hardware. Below is what each checkmark means:

• By clicking on the section below, you will see a list of recommended actions, including suggestions on how to improve network performance if the Killer Intelligence engine detects an issue:

• The current recommended action shows the number of optimizations performed by Killer. By clicking on the section, you will see the specific optimizations made by Killer to improve your experience.

• Click here, and a speedometer will appear:

• The speedometer shows the download and uploads transfer traffic being used

• If you have multiple network connections, this drop-down list will let you choose the networks to show on the speedometer:

• Killer automatically classifies each detected app and domain into six categories and prioritizes them by importance:

• You can change the priority of each category by using the arrows to the left of each row.

• Then the real-time bandwidth usage of all the applications in that category will be shown. Finally, the total upload and download are shown to the right of the graph.
• The APPS page provides detailed information about apps and domains using web resources. You can control each app or let Killer handle the transfer traffic automatically.

• The APPS section shows the real-time bandwidth usage for the top apps and domains. You can manually adjust the priorities of each application from the left row.

• Drag to the right of the slider bars of each application at the Download Speed column to reduce or increase the bandwidths you want assigned to each app based on how much data they need.

Can I Delete the Killer Control Center? How to Do It

You can’t delete the Killer Control Center, but you can uninstall it from your computer. There are several methods you can use to uninstall the Killer Control Center from your system:

First Method

1. Click “Start Menu,” then search for ” Control Panel.”
2. Click on “Programs” and look for ‘the Killer Control Center on the list.
3. Right-click on “Killer Control Center.” Next, click on uninstall a program
4. Follow the instructions on the screen, and you will see a progress bar that will lead you to remove the Killer Control Center.

 Second Method

You can uninstall using an antivirus, especially if there are many malware or Killer Control Center services not running software on your computer. Unfortunately, this malware has become challenging to remove these days.

If you can’t seem to remove the software with the method mentioned above, it means it is malware or the software is not running in it, and only a good antivirus can remove it.

Antivirus software you can use include Norton or AVG.

Third Method

You can also uninstall using the Command Displayed in the Registry. However, it can be risky as anything deleted here can be extremely difficult to recover, and your system is likely to crash.

Follow these steps to use the Registry:

1. First, hold the ‘Windows’ and ‘R‘ keys together and then run the Command.
2. Once the command box opens, type ‘Regedit’ and click on ‘OK.’
3. Next, search the Registry key for the Killer Control Center service.
4. You should see an uninstall string on the next window, double click on it, and then copy the Value Data.
5. Hold the ‘Windows’ and ‘R‘ keys again, run the Command, paste the ‘Value Data’ you just copied, and click on ‘OK.’
6. Follow the instruction on the screen and then uninstall the Killer control service

How to Disable Killer Control Center on Startup

Follow these steps to stop the killer control center from coming on at startup.

1. Tap the ‘Windows’ and ‘R’ keys and then type in services.msc. Click ‘OK.’
2. You should see the Services dialogue box. Go down until you see the Killer Network Service.
3. Right-click on ‘Killer Network Service’ and then on ‘Properties.’
4. On ‘Startup,’ click on ‘Disabled.’ Next, click on ‘Apply.’ That should disable the Killer Control Center

Read also: How Long Does Migration Assistant Take?

Why Should I Set Speed Limits in the Intel Killer Control Center? – and How to Do It

Setting speed limits help provide the needed data for some high-demand priority programs to run efficiently. You can also use it to regulate apps that consume data in the background. 

The Intel Killer Control Center uses speed limits preset in the Settings menu to slow down low-priority apps or software, and there will be less latency or drawbacks in high-priority software.

It can also adjust on its own based on certain conditions. For example, the speed limit is set on a baseline to measure if an adjustment is needed.

Let’s say the speed limit is set at 600 Mbps, and you download a file at 600 Mbps, then you begin streaming a video on YouTube. The Intel Killer Control Center will regulate the download to ensure data packets for the game have enough bandwidth to reduce lag as much as possible. This is also dependent on your ISP. For example, some ISP will slow down your Internet connection if you are downloading a large file. The sliders of the Intel Killer Control Center software used to set the limit are based on percentage.

How to set or change speed limits

1. To set or change your speed limits, open the Killer Control Center software.
2. Click on Settings from the left.
3. Click on Set Bandwidth Limits
4. Next, set your download and upload speeds according to your priorities
5. Next, click Apply Settings

Final Words

The Intel Killer Control Center can optimize, analyze, and control your network performance. The dashboard on the software gives you a complete view of your network usage and shows which apps are using the network bandwidth.

The Killer Control software can connect you to the strongest access point. It can also check the WiFi performance of the network close to you and switch to the best access point or alert if a better one is nearby.

You can check for recommendations for improving systems, swap between multimedia and creator modes, and adjust settings from the software. You can also use the Intel Killer Prioritization Engine, Killer ‘DoubleShot,’ and Killer Intelligence Engine to customize your network settings.

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