Features Insecure Code vs. the Entire RGB Industry | WinRing 0 Driver, ft. Wendell of Level1 Techs April 28, 2025 Last Updated: 2025-04-28 We provide the rocky history of WinRing 0 and share how important it’s been to the PC industry The Highlights The WinRing 0 driver has propped-up the fan control and RGB industry for over a decadeSecurity updates have broken WinRing 0’s codeThis has resulted in a mad dash for hardware vendors to re-develop RGB and fan control software Table of Contents AutoTOC Our fully custom 3D Emblem Glasses celebrate our 15th Anniversary! We hand-assemble these on the East Coast in the US with a metal badge, strong adhesive, and high-quality pint glass. They pair excellently with our 3D 'Debug' Drink Coasters. Purchases keep us ad-free and directly support our consumer-focused reviews! Intro There’s one piece of obscure 2007 code that has propped-up the entirety of the fan control and large parts of the RGB industry. It’s a driver called WinRing0, and now, the software that uses it to control hardware through Windows is breaking. If you're like us, you've always felt some sense of looming dread when you install a piece of software that controls fans or LEDs. There's something ominous about a half-baked app with a broken UI taking control of hardware in meat space. Editor's note: This was originally published on April 17, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication. Credits Host, Writing Steve Burke Writing, Research Patrick Lathan Video Editing Vitalii MakhnovetsTim Phetdara Writing, Web Editing Jimmy Thang As always, being pessimistic about this kind of thing has eventually paid off, with Hyte emailing us in March and The Verge posting a story about WinRing0 being flagged as a threat by Windows Defender (that article is worth a read for the statements provided by several developers).  We contacted our own list of developers, and then reached out to Wendell f