Is this true?

[Michael C]

Dell Computers - now with PRE-INSTALLED spyware!

The place I work received three Dell laptops yesterday. While setting up one
of them this morning, I discovered something called "MyWay Search Assistant"
in the Add/Remove Programs control panel. I'd never heard of that particular
program, so I Googled it hoping to find more info.

I wasn't entirely surprised to find that it's spyware, so I used the control
panel to remove it. However, one of the posts I saw was from someone who
tried the same tactic and was not happy to find that the program put itself
back into the control panel after a reboot, minus the "Remove" button that
would allow uninstalling it again!

They were right - it did replace itself in Add/Remove Programs and no longer
had a "Remove" button.

So I'm currently formatting the drive of a brand new laptop so I can
reinstall Windows from scratch to get rid of Dell's spyware crap. Can you
tell I'm not very happy about this?

Up until today, I was a big fan of Dell's computers. No more - I will never
again recommend a Dell to anyone. I hope whatever money Dell got from MyWay
will offset all the business they're going to lose once this starts getting
around.

Like corporate IT departments don't already have enough spyware problems
without vendors PRE-INSTALLING the ****ing shit. I can't believe Dell was
stupid enough to pull this.

 

[Pen]

Dell Computers - now with PRE-INSTALLED spyware!

The place I work received three Dell laptops yesterday. While setting up
one of them this morning, I discovered something called "MyWay Search
Assistant" in the Add/Remove Programs control panel. I'd never heard of
that particular program, so I Googled it hoping to find more info.

I wasn't entirely surprised to find that it's spyware, so I used the
control panel to remove it. However, one of the posts I saw was from
someone who tried the same tactic and was not happy to find that the
program put itself back into the control panel after a reboot, minus the
"Remove" button that would allow uninstalling it again!

They were right - it did replace itself in Add/Remove Programs and no
longer had a "Remove" button.

So I'm currently formatting the drive of a brand new laptop so I can
reinstall Windows from scratch to get rid of Dell's spyware crap. Can you
tell I'm not very happy about this?

Up until today, I was a big fan of Dell's computers. No more - I will
never again recommend a Dell to anyone. I hope whatever money Dell got
from MyWay will offset all the business they're going to lose once this
starts getting around.

Like corporate IT departments don't already have enough spyware problems
without vendors PRE-INSTALLING the ****ing shit. I can't believe Dell was
stupid enough to pull this.

Before you wasted all your time with this, you should have
googled the problem with myway. There is a known bug from
last year along with a Dell fix out there.

 

[Grinder]

Before you wasted all your time with this, you should have
googled the problem with myway. There is a known bug from
last year along with a Dell fix out there.

That is a good advisement.

Apart from that, I generally do a clean, bare install on a new system
just to drop all of the crapware that comes pre-installed on new
systems. If the manufacturer does not provide a real OS installer, and
just a system restore image, of course, that won't be possible. (That's
one the reasons I've bought so many Gateways, BTW.)

 

[kony]

That is a good advisement.

Apart from that, I generally do a clean, bare install on a new system
just to drop all of the crapware that comes pre-installed on new
systems. If the manufacturer does not provide a real OS installer, and
just a system restore image, of course, that won't be possible. (That's
one the reasons I've bought so many Gateways, BTW.)

It is a possible but a bit more trouble. Borrow someone's
(same version of) Windows original CD and copy it. You are
licensed to use that version of windows, the media itself
(that you copied or that came with the OEM system instead),
is just the means to install.

The important point would be that the system installation
key be that on the system sticker, not
borrowed/lent/found/whatever. If that key doesn't work you
don't have a proper version of windows. You might later
have to activate, at which point you will have to read that
key to the MS CSR.

 

[Guest]

Like corporate IT departments don't already have enough spyware problems

without vendors PRE-INSTALLING the ****ing shit. I can't believe Dell was
stupid enough to pull this.

Same here dude.

Fortunately there are tools for removing this ballbag material -
http://www.yorkspace.com/dell-de-crapifier/

Gets rid of about 80% of it I would say without you needing to do very much
at all. I used it on all 6 machines we just bought from dHell.