While Apple Protects Against Spyware, Dell Adds It To Its Computers

Spyware is good and bad. Good because it keeps food on the table from my day job. Bad because people have to pay people like me to remove it. Now things just got worse as some poor fellow was shocked to find his brand new Dell was pre-loaded with spyware.

Michael Righi did some investigating and found not only had the Texas-based PC maker pre-installed My Way Search Assistant, but it was getting money to do so! Unfortunately, “Stewart” in India for Dell Support was unaware that the company he works for was putting the malware on the PCs Stewart was supporting and then informed Righi that he was on his own. At least Stewart offered another Dell number to call. The catch was Righi would have to pay $49 to get what Dell put on his PC, off. Fun, aye?

Even though Righi swore he’d never get a Windows computer again, he was forced due to the need to run certain applications. Again, it’s the same thing I keep hearing over and over (myself included) that keeps people off Macs for daily use. One hopes the MacIntels will help in this area - the option to go to a computer that not only protects you from spyware but also gives you sweet swag on the hard drive that you can use!

[tags]spyware,malware,dell,pre-load,my way,$49,removal fee[/tags]