If you bought a recent Lenovo computer you are F'ed (1 Viewer)

http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/lenovo-pcs-ship-with-man-in-the-middle-adware-that-breaks-https-connections/


Don't ever buy from these bastards again.

Old news. This was news in August.

Microsoft has had, for years, step by step instructions to remove pre-installed adware.

Granted...

Superfish is one of the worst.

But that is what you get when you buy a super crap cheap PC.

I wonder what IBM is going to do about it.

This is a new version installed between october and december, much much worse. What can IBM do? It's not their baby any more.

Superfish started being installed in July.

Unless this is new-unimproved...

Read the article Sam, it's worse. There are root certificate issues now that make it a LOT more dangerous than 'simple' malware.

ARS Technica has an article up on how to handle the certificate issues...


http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/02/how-to-remove-the-superfish-malware-what-lenovo-doesnt-tell-you/



FWIW, Any vendor who compromises their equipment in this manner is not worthy of having me as a customer. I absolutely hate the crap ware that comes bundled on computers and this particular instance is a prime reason why it should be avoided like the plague.


- Walter.

Reason #196 that I will only buy Macs.

I have never purchased a pre-built PC. Generally, they're filled with unnecessary software and have cheap parts.


If you can put together a home theater, you can build a PC. The only tricky parts are installing the CPU heatsink and case fans. As for choosing parts, start with naming a budget, selecting a CPU, then compatible parts down the line - motherboard, RAM, case, video card, power supply, etc.


Newegg and Amazon are great places to buy, and there are plenty of review sites/magazines around such as HardOCP and Maximum PC to help get things narrowed down.


Just remember to take precautions for static electricity when parts are being handled, and never close up the case until you're sure that everything's working right!

Many of us have built our own computers over the years Laser, especially us gamers. That doesn't scale to 'real' people tho, nor to Laptops in particular. The race to the bottom in computer pricing has led to this epidemic of shitware on PCs and Microsoft's Security Management philosophy is tied to having millions of professionals who will administer around its weaknesses leaving individual users on their own to protect themselves. It's not worth the time and effort for me to deal with that shit any more. And my family can either make the investment in an ecosystem that values them or they can find someone else to manage their troubles for them.

Eye-opening stuff.


I have built all my PCs over the years (except for my very first PC and the last--my first laptop).


The laptop--which is my home machine now was a Toshiba purchased from Amazon a few years ago.


I'm thinking it's time to upgrade my machine (and my wife's too).


Is there anyone who sells Windows-based laptops without a bunch of crap installed ahead of time that leaves all sorts of junk in the registries, etc.?

Mike Frezon said:

Eye-opening stuff.

I have built all my PCs over the years (except for my very first PC and the last--my first laptop).

The laptop--which is my home machine now was a Toshiba purchased from Amazon a few years ago.

I'm thinking it's time to upgrade my machine (and my wife's too).

Is there anyone who sells Windows-based laptops without a bunch of crap installed ahead of time that leaves all sorts of junk in the registries, etc.?

Click to expand...

I've only ever bought HP. Bought an Acer one time.

I have always bought AVG with tune-up. Never had problems.

My cousin's husband is also a HP guy. He uses Kaspersky. He never has issues either.

You can buy machines at the Microsoft store without crapware! Really, I know it is strange to here me saying that but it is true. Ask them specifically for it. You will pay extra for it tho.


More on how despicable this is and how dumb Lenovo is:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/02/lenovo_superfish_scandal_why_it_s_one_of_the_worst_consumer_computing_screw.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

My first two desktop PCs were an HP and an e-Machines. After that I swore to never buy another big box store PC again so I started "rolling my own" which was satisfying but took a lot of time to pick out parts and assemble. And deal with Windows. And constantly update drivers which had conflicts or stopped working entirely. And deal with Windows. And constantly update my anti-virus and anti-malware software. And deal with Windows.


My first two laptops were an HP and an Acer. My wife had an HP then a Dell laptop. All four were loaded with bloatware and experienced the typical Windows shortcomings mentioned above. Wash, rinse, repeat.


When my Acer laptop died, I took the advice of an old friend who has been a Mac user since the mid 90s and bought a MacBook Pro. My wife liked it so much, she ditched her trouble-ridden Dell and bought a MacBook Pro. Last year, she sold the MacBook Pro to Gazelle (yes, Macs retain a good resale value for several years) and used the money to buy a new MacBook Air.


We will never go back to Windows. Ever.

Sam Posten said:

More on how despicable this is and how dumb Lenovo is:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/02/lenovo_superfish_scandal_why_it_s_one_of_the_worst_consumer_computing_screw.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

Click to expand...

"Going forward, we feel quite strongly that we made a significant mistake here, or we missed something here."- Lenovo CTO, Peter Hortensius


http://www.pcworld.com/article/2886690/lenovo-cto-admits-company-messed-up-and-will-publish-superfish-removal-tool-on-friday.html


Really, Mr. Hortensius? Pre-installing malware that enables man-in-the-middle attacks is just "a significant mistake"? I'd say that you are missing "something" – maybe when your company's sales to Fortune 1000 companies drop so much that your Board of Directors sacks you and the rest of the executive team, you'll figure out what that "something" is!

laser said:

I have never purchased a pre-built PC. Generally, they're filled with unnecessary software and have cheap parts.
...

Click to expand...

How do you build your own laptop?

The inevitable:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2887392/lenovo-hit-with-lawsuit-over-superfish-snafu.html


The irony:

InfoSec Taylor Swift @SwiftOnSecurity · 19h 19 hours ago

If you take a Lenovo OUT OF THE BOX right now, it will boot up, update antivirus, and detect the malware they installed for you

@DuaneG

Click to expand...

Yes, I know double irony quoting a fictitious security professional as an authority here.

I always recommend PC Decrapifier when friends by off-the-shelf computers. It removes all the 'crap' that comes pre-installed.

I am thinking at this point, if you can't purchase a signature PC at least buy a retail copy of Windows and just wipe the drive and start from scratch.

-Keith

That doesn't scale to regular users.