Dell Charges $49 To Remove It's Own Spyware

[Crockett]

Having purchased a Dell before, I was well aware that Dell computers ship full of bloat. I anticipated to find garbage such as AOL coach, Dell Picture Studio and Internet Explorer. What I was shocked to find, however, was My Way Search Assistant.

For those of you recently in a coma (or those of you that use a Mac or Linux), My Way is a spyware program that claims to block pop-ups and provide other nice features for users on the web. In reality, My Way spies on your browsing habits and reports this information to a central server so that customized ads can be delivered to your machine.
(BTW, that's not me talking. I would never purchase proprietary computers)

My Way Search Assistant (http://www.michaelrighi.com/2005/07/21/dell-spyware-my-way/)

[ShadowThomas]

Lots of good replies at that site. Thanks for sharing, Al. I own the Dell 4600 for over a year and I have never seen that my way thing. Thats messed up charging $49.00 to remove what junk they put on in the first place. I doubt today they are still putting that my way junk on because of the complaints. I agree though, both my machines came loaded with bloat ware. Compaq & Dell. First thing I did when I got both machines was to run into the add/remove programs and delete the junk I don't want.
But, now that I have learned how to reformatt a comp. when I buy another, I will formatt straight out of the box.
If I thought I could, I would build my own computer, but I don't think I would be smart enough for that. I was going to buy a home built off a computer store but, it would of costed a lot more his way over the cost of my Dell.

[Numb]

I bought the dell I currently have in Feb '05 and I have never seen anything related to myway ???? :confused:

[QuinnK]

Lots of good replies at that site. Thanks for sharing, Al. I own the Dell 4600 for over a year and I have never seen that my way thing. Thats messed up charging $49.00 to remove what junk they put on in the first place. I doubt today they are still putting that my way junk on because of the complaints. I agree though, both my machines came loaded with bloat ware. Compaq & Dell. First thing I did when I got both machines was to run into the add/remove programs and delete the junk I don't want.
But, now that I have learned how to reformatt a comp. when I buy another, I will formatt straight out of the box.
If I thought I could, I would build my own computer, but I don't think I would be smart enough for that. I was going to buy a home built off a computer store but, it would of costed a lot more his way over the cost of my Dell.

If I thought I could, I would build my own computer, but I don't think I would be smart enough for that.

Yes you can, if you really want to... you are smart enough. Building a computer is not as difficult as many folks think. If you ever decide to try it, you can get the advice and information you need to get it done (then you'll wonder why you didn't do it earlier). You can even start with a 'barebones', which already has a number of things in place if you wish.

Quinn

[mjjmlks]

I looked in my a/r and didn't see My Way listed...but did find these
Dell Juke box drive
Dell Media experience
Dell Solutions
Dell Support
are these something I need or are they some junk you all were talking about.. should I leave them or remove them...I also saw Yahoo tool bar...which I didn't put on my pc...thanks to you all...

[MrBill]

Yahoo toolbar probably got put on there when you downloaded something and just kept clicking next or OK. Adobe will do the Google toolbar unless you uncheck it. The others are OK.

[mjjmlks]

I try my best to keep my pc clean...I email with a bunch of older people and so I try hard not to mess them up...and I don't like to be messed up either lol

[Ranger Bob]

When you purchase a Dell you can do it a couple of ways. One way is as a home user and the other way is as a home business or small business. If you go the home user way you have very little control over what gets installed on the PC and you probably will not be able to have Windows XP Pro on it but I found by going the small business route I could choice Windows XP Pro and had a lot more control over what "free" software was going to be installed as well as what hardware I had included in the PC. Needless to say none of this stuff was installed on my PC.

[Skipslot]

As far as Dell goes their company doesn't look all that good to me. Their parts are proprietary, if you have to replace a part, you have to buy their parts. I personally analyzed many manufacturers when I purchased my laptop. My past problems with HP support on my old desktop left me to rethink my decision on any big company to make my purchase from. My laptop is made by Hypersonic, a small company but well worth it. Their warranty is first class and you don't pay extra for it either. Their support speaks English and if you have problems they can have it back to you in less than 1 week. They add no extra software to the computer and you get a recovery disk plus the original Windows disk.
I have also built another computer and its really not that difficult on the desktops. Plus its a great learning experience.

[QuinnK]

Their parts are proprietary, if you have to replace a part, you have to buy their parts.

Dell's desktops actually have very few proprietary parts. Their laptops of course do, as do laptops in general.

Quinn

[sharber60]

Their parts are proprietary, if you have to replace a part, you have to buy their parts.

Dell's desktops actually have very few proprietary parts. Their laptops of course do, as do laptops in general.

Quinn
Yes. I agree, I have added non Dell RAM, DVD Writer, non Dell video card.. to our 2 Dells...
Only thing may be the power supply as some models do have proprietory power supplies, everything else can be swapped out and other brands used..

[MrBill]

My son had MyWay on his laptop and had no problem removing it. He isn't very PC Savvy but said it was in Add or Remove programs and removed it from there. I am sure that there are probably some traces of it in the Registry but he doesn't know how to get to the Registry and I ain't telling him for fear of him screwing it up. Spybot doesn't detect it at all and neither does AdAware. I bought a laptop for the wife about 2 weeks after he bought his and I don't see it on hers. Must have been stuck on just certain ones.