I've done some poking around on the internet about the Netgear Genie program that popped up on my desktop when I installed the new R6850 router (at least I THINK that's where it came from..???). From what I gather from what I read, I can uninstall the Genie. It has much of the same info about my internet connections as the network info I see when I log directly into the router. Does this mean that I can uninstall the Genie without interrupting the traffic thru my router? As you might surmise, I am an extremely low-end user and know just enough about the subject to be somewhat dangerous. Just FYI and in case it matters, my modem is a dinosaur Netgear DM200 DSL.
Does this mean that I can uninstall the Genie without interrupting the traffic thru my router?
You can just uninstall the genie, but before you do that look at what it does.
There are some features that wipe the floor with what the browser graphical user interface (GUI) does.
Connect to the wifi
Alert you to new stuff joining your network
Show a useful map of your network
Let you change the names of things on the network
Manage media servers
Manage guest access
In some cases, the genie does a better job than the hopelessly complicated GUI.
You can just leave the thing alone and ignore it until the say when you want it. You can certainly disable "Enable Autostart".
I say that partly because it isn't easy to track down the genie on the Netgear site should you ever want to install it. You might be surprised by the number of people who turn up here asking for help in getting their genie back. It is a hidden gem.
Just FYI and in case it matters, my modem is a dinosaur Netgear DM200 DSL.
Dinosaur it may be, but it was the last decent DSL modem that Netgear made. DM200s now sell for good prices second hand.
If you want to use it with a router, to get wifi for example, you MUST put the DM200 into modem only mode. If you don't you will end up with conflicts with your other router.
Day before yesterday I uninstalled the Genie and have not had a chronic problem since. Before, I would lose connection sometimes once a day and sometimes several times a day. As I was navigating the internet I would sometimes get the message "Site cannot be reached". After a minute or two that would change to "No internet". After anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes it would all be good again. The big problem was not knowing when this would happen (usually mid morning and early evening). But PTL we're all good now!. Apparently the Genie and the Nighthawk would occasionally butt heads.
Apparently the Genie and the Nighthawk would occasionally butt heads.
In the past we have had reports here of the genie taking up massive resources in Windows. A huge and inexplicable % of the CPU's capacity.
It would have been interesting to see if simply turning off the genie, preventing it from launching with Windows, would have improved things at your end. But that's just the lapsed scientists in me wanting to experiment.
