Gamma utilities on bootup?

[DaveReading]

I've been creating printer profiles for the last year or so with an elderly copy of EZcolor (originally Monaco, subsequently xRite). While it has its limitations, and isn't nearly as good as using a spectrophotometer, it'll do while I save up for the latter.

While profiling a printer doesn't (AFAIK) require a profiled monitor, I notice that the Monaco install adds a gamma utility that loads on bootup (though I don't recall having run the Monaco monitor calibration, so I don't know where the gamma utility is getting its calibration data from).

The Monaco install notes mention the need to remove Adobe Gamma from the startup folder, which makes sense.

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago, when I acquired a Colormunki Display in order to do a proper monitor profile. It appears to be working well, and the improvement is noticeable. Obviously the iStudio software loads the newly-created ICM monitor profile when Windows start, and I get a popup conforming this on boot. I see that I now have a utility called XRGamma.exe in my Startup folder.

My question is whether there is still a need to load a monitor gamma utility on bootup, and if so which one, or is the need for that superseded by the ICM profile being loaded? If I need both, should I be leaving XRGamma to run on startup and removing the Monaco utility?

Sorry if the above reflects my confusion!

 

[graybalanced]

My question is whether there is still a need to load a monitor gamma utility on bootup, and if so which one, or is the need for that superseded by the ICM profile being loaded? If I need both, should I be leaving XRGamma to run on startup and removing the Monaco utility?

I believe the gamma utility is not needed because it is superseded by the profile. Adobe Gamma has not been included for Photoshop for I don’t know, maybe 20 years or more now, since ICC display profiles became common on Mac and then Windows.

Not sure about what to do if you need both, but I think if they don’t conflict and the old software is still doing useful work then leave them both installed. My only concern is if the gamma utility is interfering with modern color management (ICC based), but I do not know enough about the XRGamma utility to know how it might interact with today’s OS-level, cross-application color management, or how it might interact with today’s video card drivers. But I am thinking it is OK to leave it installed if you can’t find any evidence that it is screwing up the color management system.