18 thoughts on “Turning off InfoCenter in AutoCAD 2014”

  1. It is still only showing Acad 13 as latest version in Freebies page link? Is there somewhere else to get this for 2014? BTW Thanks for the program, I was crashing and slowing down a lot on 13 and after I used your Info off program my Acad ran smooth.

    1. Good catch. I uploaded the current file before 2014 was released, then forgot to update the page afterward. That file does support 2014. The page is corrected now.

  2. Owen, Thank you for the AcadInfoCenterOff.msi. I ran it on my AutoCAD 2014 to remove Sign In to Autodesk 360, Autodesk Exchange Apps & Stay Connected from the top right menubar. Just to let you know when I installed AutoCAD 2014 I copied the disk to a server and had removed the prerequisite ADSYNC from the install as discussed in the Autodesk Forums. But now that I’ve AcadInfoCenterOff.msi I’ve also removed my Help button from the top right. My office does not want the facebooking and tweeting that is now built inside AutoCAD and I appreciate your program taking this off the screen. But I can’t set up my users with no Help button. (I can’t get on my users to read the Help if I’ve taken away the button). Is it all or none? Would you know of a way to take away the foolishness but leave the Help? Thank you, Steve

    1. I’m afraid it’s all or nothing with respect to the InfoCenter. The local HELP command (aka F1 help) is still available and works fine, so you can add a button for it to your ribbon or QAT. You could probably create a custom command for starting the online help as well, but it would be a bit more work.

  3. That’s a great program and has helped so far in speed for sure. You wouldn’t have anything that will convert dynamic blocks from not allowing to be exploded to being able to be exploded do you, without having to go into each block to change the drop down setting?

  4. Great job Owen. I have LT 2015 and it was bogging me down.

    I ran the info center disable routine from the freebies page it took about 1min and had instant results.

    LT 2015 is no longer slowing me down

    thank you

  5. I ran your script and even renamed the wscommcntr executables on my machine but the infocenter stuff is still in the title bar for AutoCAD Map 3D 2015. I am running on Windows 7. Any other suggestions?

    Appreciate all your time.
    Thank You!

    1. I don’t have Map 3D to test, so I’m not sure what might be causing it to load. The only thing I can think of offhand is to make sure you’re logged out of A360.

  6. Thanks for your reply. The wscommcntr is no longer loading since I renamed them and I looked in the registry to make sure the infocenter is turned off but the tools are still in the title bar. I have never logged into A360 so I am not even sure how to make sure I am logged out. Oh well, will keep trying! Again thanks for your reply!

      1. Yes I still have the QAT which is located on the left side of the toolbar but there are still icons on the right side of the toolbar for Sign In(Autodesk 360), Autodesk Exhange Apps and Stay Connected.

  7. Hi, I am sharing my post with you, i give instructions on how to disable acwebbrowser and how to strip autocad back to what is needed / necessary…

    https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-architecture-forum/the-acwebbrowser-saga-a-solution-amp-and-lighten-acad-2017/m-p/6834678#M57560

    In case they ‘delete’ the post, i will post the text here too:

    A saga as no-one seems to be able to come up with a solution — as to [1] why acwebrowser and Acwebrowser are necessary, what do they actually do and [2] how to disable them. I have managed to get my “Acwebrowser.exe” and “acwebrowser.exe” down from seven running processes to just two. In this post i will also tell how i have reduced the install size of my Autocad architecture from 4.5~ to 2.1gb~… !!!!!! NOTE i have disabled info-center in the registry, and did not install Autocad ‘desktop app’ or ‘Autodesk 360’

    My method is a little brutal, and may require some trial and error depending on install and user.

    In autocad Architecture 2017, There are two ‘ACWEBBROWSER.EXE’ EXECUTABLES:

    I will refer to them as “Acwebrowser.exe” and “acwebrowser.exe”.

    “Acwebrowser.exe” can be found in the “program files\autocad~\Acad2017~\Acwebbrowser” folder. [the path may differ depending on installation].

    “acwebrowser.exe” is best found by opening task manager and right click+select ‘show process’ and in the ‘process tab’ right click+select “open file location”

    [1] why “Acwebrowser.exe” and “acwebrowser.exe”. are necessary?
    answer:

    a] “acwebrowser.exe”. seems to be a ‘general’ gui program, which shows the ‘start-up / splash screen’ , ie.,: the organisation of the program as it is loading. I cannot find a way to start the program without the splash, ie, run the splash in the background, or load the program without the splash. in all likelyhood, this is all it does, plus collect some metadata which autodesk would use to improve end user experience.

    == i wont defend autocad, but an objective look at this tells you that a program can only get better if the developer knows what needs improving, for example if one was to log and collect data on the most common ‘help searches’ one would know what functions people find the most difficult, and may be able to improve their usability somehow.

    b] “Acwebrowser.exe” is not needed to open and run Autocad Architecture. It does however run the pretty ‘welcome screen’ where you will find the ‘new drawing tab’ and the 360 stuff. If this is not needed by the user then there will be a way to disable all “Acwebrowser.exe” processes and limit the acwebrowser.exe” processes to TWO….. [see the attached jpeg files for what it will look like]

    [2] how to disable them:

    ****** BACKUP registry and all folders, perhaps even licence folders******

    open the “Acwebrowser.exe” folder, copy all files and folders to a zip folder for backup. Remove all files and folders except the “Acwebrowser.exe” file. In the properties Dialogue change all permissions on “Acwebrowser.exe” to deny and read only for all users. Always backup these files in case of problems.

    — Acadarch2017 will now run without any “Acwebrowser.exe” processes running.

    the next trick will require some trial and error by end user.

    Using the task manager, navigate to the “acwebrowser.exe” folder. There are two in my case, “mvchap 12 and 11?” but only one seems to ever run. Make a backup copy of all files and folders. One by one send the files and folders to the recycle bin. With each remove start the program. At the end there will be about seven “dll” files which you will not be able to remove, as the program will either not start or crash. However, using this method i was able to reduce the running processes of “acwebrowser.exe” to TWO which take up about 11000 and 12000 kb of memory each.

    In total my Autocad arch 2017 uses about ~300mb of RAM on opening an new drawing file, which i think is acceptable. Remember i have no A360, Infocentre

    ———————————————————————————————————————————————————

    Lighten Autocad Arch 2017 size on disk by 2+ gb.

    Using the above delete / start program method, navigate to ‘program files and send various folders to recycle bin”. i started with the ones that take up the most space and seem to offer things i do not need. You will be able to remove about 2gb this way.

    I do not use the material library — all 3d modelling and rendering i do in Rhino, Autocad i only use for linework. As i was not able to uninstall the material library without uninstalling Autocad, i simply navigated to the 500mb ‘materiasl’ folder and removed it, zipped it onto my external hard-drive.

    the program runs without any error {except for one}::::

    each time the program starts i will receive one error on the first command i type something like “unable to check spelling no dic file”… However!!! it does check and correct my spelling, and give me the same ‘near command’ list to choose from, so heck knows.

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