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View Full Version : Lenevo Superfish admission ...


FullOppositeRudder
1st Mar 2015, 08:47
My daughter was contemplating buying one of the mid range Lenevos until her research uncovered this:

Lenovo CTO admits company 'messed up,' publishes Superfish removal tool | PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2886690/lenovo-cto-admits-company-messed-up-and-will-publish-superfish-removal-tool-on-friday.html)

We speculate whether this will be followed up by retailers, and this little bit of mischief removed by them from every machine they hold, or whether it will be up to the end purchaser to do their own removal, assuming that they even realise that it's there. Probably the retailers and the salespeople may not even know about this ...

It's being offered by a company which sells an enormous spread of products from CDs and DVDs through to TVs, cameras, guitars, most recently refrigerators and washing machines, and yes, computers. Prices and convenience of location are the big things in their favour. (For Australians it the company which makes extensive use of black on yellow in their advertising ...) Frankly the likelihood of specialist knowledge in computer specifics amongst the average staff members is likely to be pretty rare - based on my association with them.

So what to do? Buy now and take a chance on removing it as an early chore? (She's probably going to need some oversight and assistance in dealing with that - she's 1,200 km away from here). Perhaps wait a few weeks and most probably still get a machine with the crap installed anyway? Look at something else - (we both have Lenevos and they have served us well ...)

Decisions ...... :confused:

FOR

ExXB
1st Mar 2015, 10:04
Buy a Mac. Guaranteed bloat-free. Yes, it will cost more, but isn't she worth it?

If you decide to buy a PC - ask if it can be configured without anything 'extra'. Seeing as they get paid for adding bloatware it will (likely) cost you more.

Then get the best anti-malware tools you can find. (Others can advise you on this) Use them.

Bushfiva
1st Mar 2015, 10:42
Currently shipping machines don't have the problem. Lenovo has issued a full removal kit for those that are affected. So a bazillion minus points for being dicks in the first place, but several points for owning up and fixing the issue. The best source for baggage-free machines is always Microsoft's Signature line. Macs also work well, of course.








Of course, if Swordfish bakes your buns, you might want to check for
Komodia-related stuff at https://filippo.io/Badfish/.


And of course of course, if you trust Comodo certs and products you might want to rethink their relationship with AdTrustMedia, purveyors of Privdog and owned by the CEO of Comodo.