Got a Dell? Have You Removed the Dell-Installed Spyware?
 

So I was going through my Add/Remove programs tonight, and I found this thing called "My Way Search Assistant" in the list, but it had no remove button, it was just shown there with no buttons to operate on it.

Obviously, I knew right away it was some sort of crapware. Crapware I shouldnt have, that is. I run Hijackthis, AdAware Pro and Norton. All of them are up to date and after running a scan of all three and manually updating the defs of each just to be sure, it was still telling me I had a clean system.

What the fuck?

So, I started doing some searching around, and came across this little tidbit. Apparently, this is something that Dell installs on all of thier new computers, and it is indeed Spyware of some sort. I didnt delve into the details of exactly what it sends because I didnt care, I didnt want it no matter what it was sending.

I tried all of the stuff in that thread, still couldnt get rid of the damn thing. So I went back to google, next result was the same so I decided to try that, so I what it said and it did remove this pesky little piece of shit.

I am really surprised Dell themselves is doing this bullshit. They honestly deserve to be sued for it. This is reason 1,986,435,265,985 of why I'll never buy another Dell as long as I live.

So how many of you have this thing running, apparently it hides from alot of the crapware scanners.

dell could sue you for this :2 cents:

haha i bought a dell too. so far not bad, there flat panels are good.. but yes. 32 tasks, 58 processors of spyware everytime i run the ad aware on it. cant wait for vista to purge this beast.

This should take care of most of the rest of it, but yes, they get paid to bundle all of that shit on there, so, they're going to keep doing it.

Oh, that would be fun. I hope they do. I love the smell of process servers in the morning!

Thanks for that link, gonna run that too. Lets see what else they have on here... I killed alot of it when I first got the damn thing, or so I thought.

im currently emailing

[email protected]

Oh, please Cc me. I cant wait to see this.

I'll take a look. I've never noticed that in there.

so you condone spyware?

Dell PC's come with (inactive) software which allows them - if you go to their site and choose to run the services - to inventory your computer and the like. You might do that - for example - if you wanted their site to suggest upgrades, add-ons and spare parts for your PC.

Users are specifically asked if it is okay to check their machines before proceeding, so it is a major stretch to call this "spyware".

Much like it is to call Dell's assistance services "support".

when i get my dell's i usually wind up formatting the fucking things cause of all the crap they install for ya like the dell support crap and dell this dell that and other crap and this crap and so on...

i had that on my dell, but it removed from via add/remove

You motherfuckers we do not install any of that shit... biatchhhhhhhh

we are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:pimp

Heh, hi fake nick.

Dell rocks!