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Lenovo To Wipe Superfish Off PCs

Posted by Soulskill on from the cleaning-up-a-mess dept.

An anonymous reader send news from the Wall Street Journal, where Lenovo CTO Peter Hortensius said in an interview that the company will roll out a software update to remove the Superfish adware from its laptops. "As soon as the programmer is finished, we will provide a tool that removes all traces of the app from people’s laptops; this goes further than simply uninstalling the app. Once the app-wiping software is finished tonight or tomorrow, we’ll issue a press release with information on how to get it." When asked whether his company vets the software they pre-install on their machines, he said, "Yes, we do. Obviously in this case we didn't do enough. The intent of loading this tool was to help enhance our users’ shopping experience. The feedback from users was that it wasn’t useful, and that’s why we turned it off. Our reputation is everything and our products are ultimately how we have our reputation."

4 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. The lesson here by MAXOMENOS · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The feedback from users was that it wasn’t useful, and that’s why we turned it off.

    Translation: our laptops are for consumers to buy crap online, and not for any kind of serious work.

    Good to know!

    --
    Finding God in a Dog
  2. Re:Sony Comcast Level Reputation by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Be fair. Sony and Comcast have both blamed their customers and dallied around in court for quite a while before doing anything, or avoided doing anything in some cases. Lenovo reacted within a day. Lenovo may have taken a fall, but there are circles to Hell, and they aren't in the same class as Sony and Comcast.

  3. That's a stretch by jones_supa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The intent of loading this tool was to help enhance our users’ shopping experience.

    Shut up. It injects advertising into search engine results, and also has the capability to intercept and hijack SSL/TLS connections to websites, thanks to the installation of a self-signing certificate authority on affected machines. You are not enhancing my shopping experience in any way, but you are doing a great job ruining my computer experience. This is nothing more than classic OEM crapware at its best.

  4. Root Cause by zieroh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The intent of loading this tool was to help enhance our users’ shopping experience.

    The belief that the "shopping experience" of their users needed "enhancing" speaks loudly as to exactly how little Lenovo understands.

    --
    People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.