Heads up:: Lenovo Laptop/Tablet users

StephenVyas

Seems the company is(was?) up to some shady practices that compromised your internet security

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/02/19/lenovo-caught-installing-adware-new-computers/

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/2wecz2/lenovo_users_report_preinstalled_superfish_adware/

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31533028

Fuiosg

I've had that superfish shit before, it's blatant adware, took me forever to find out it was being installed from a chrome extension.

Not good publicity for Lenovo, to say the least. "Temporarily" removed, lmao.

almighty_gir

they needed to find some way to subsidize their cheap hardware... guess users just found it.

MephistonX

fuck, just got a new lenovo laptop a month ago, i spent a solid day removing all the bloatware so hopefully i caught it...

radiancef0rge

do people actually keep the windows install that the hardware company provides?

loggie24

Whenever you get a new computer with pre-installed Windows always re-install with a clean version, rule of thumb...

almighty_gir

Yeah, except when you have to install specific drivers which also have hidden shit.

Dataday

I'll have to check to see if its on my y510p model, but not the biggest issue since the moral of this story is also...USE FIREFOX and run those anti-malware applications. Also not ashamed to say I use ad block until I find a site that deserves whitelisting rather than the other way around. Its less about annoying ads and more about security.

aesir

loggie24 wrote: »

Whenever you get a new computer with pre-installed Windows always re-install with a clean version, rule of thumb...

Then you have to buy a new copy of windows along with your new computer that should have come with windows. An extra 100 bucks to get rid of malware. Yay.

radiancef0rge

aesir wrote: »

Then you have to buy a new copy of windows along with your new computer that should have come with windows. An extra 100 bucks to get rid of malware. Yay.

no? all windows ship with a restore partition to reinstall?

WarrenM

If you're re-installing with the copy of Windows they gave you, what are you accomplishing?

Fuiosg

Windows 8.1 has refresh/reset, pretty sure that re-installs without using the backup partition, not positive though.

aesir

If you want to install a fresh version of windows you need the product key. No one gives you the product key anymore.

They just give you install software to set it back to the original lenovo malware BS.

edit: there are apparently scripts you can run that can pull the product key from BIOS

JedTheKrampus

My thinkpad has the product key on a sticker under the battery I think... wouldn't know about any others.

Add3r

They do usually on Lenovo's and Gateway's (if they still exist), but to refresh a windows install and use your original license you need to contact Microsoft to deactivate its current usage and then get a transfer ID/New Key. Once that is handled, you can reinstall using the new key once the old is deactivated. That being said, OEM windows installs are usually non-transferable through Microsoft.

JedTheKrampus

It worked fine for me when I reinstalled for a new SSD, no calls needed.