Comments on: Factory installed spyware http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297 p2pnet.net - reader powered Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:11:09 -0300 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297/comment-page-1#comment-460605 Reader's Write Sun, 11 May 2008 04:54:23 +0000 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297#comment-460605 We had a guest in Computer Forensics class that stated that this is intentional and that the programmers work for the Chinese military. He also stated that there were similar issues with USB drives as well. We had a guest in Computer Forensics class that stated that this is intentional and that the programmers work for the Chinese military. He also stated that there were similar issues with USB drives as well.

]]> By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297/comment-page-1#comment-367772 Reader's Write Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:21:46 +0000 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297#comment-367772 ...mine takes SD cards. it doesn't plug into my computer, ever. I have no idea if it can load a virus onto the SD, but i can only assume it has no memory of its own other than the algorithms to read the SD card and display the picture, which are burned into the chips and cant be changed. …mine takes SD cards. it doesn’t plug into my computer, ever. I have no idea if it can load a virus onto the SD, but i can only assume it has no memory of its own other than the algorithms to read the SD card and display the picture, which are burned into the chips and cant be changed.

]]> By: Tammo McIllheney http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297/comment-page-1#comment-366884 Tammo McIllheney Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:59:37 +0000 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297#comment-366884 anything that can interface with a computer NEEDS to be either completely dumb (cannot do anything at all, like an external hard drive) or needs to have an OS. you cant have a digital photo frame be dumb......... then it would just be an expensive black piece of plastic. some sort of OS is required to install the photo software. and without the photo software (whatever crap they use) you dont have any photos anything that can interface with a computer NEEDS to be either completely dumb (cannot do anything at all, like an external hard drive) or needs to have an OS.
you cant have a digital photo frame be dumb………
then it would just be an expensive black piece of plastic.
some sort of OS is required to install the photo software.
and without the photo software (whatever crap they use) you dont have any photos

]]> By: Rekrul http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297/comment-page-1#comment-366558 Rekrul Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:34:13 +0000 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297#comment-366558 Am I the only one bothered by the idea that something like a digital photo frame would even be designed with enough of an OS that it could automatically upload something to a computer when you plug it in? It should be a dumb device controlled by the computer. Unless Windows is truly stupid enough to try auto-running whatever it happens to find on any device that you plug in, which actually wouldn't surprise me that much... Am I the only one bothered by the idea that something like a digital photo frame would even be designed with enough of an OS that it could automatically upload something to a computer when you plug it in? It should be a dumb device controlled by the computer.

Unless Windows is truly stupid enough to try auto-running whatever it happens to find on any device that you plug in, which actually wouldn’t surprise me that much…

]]> By: Craputer? http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297/comment-page-1#comment-365583 Craputer? Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:55:40 +0000 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297#comment-365583 Craputer? A crap computer. The term "craputer" has been coined to describe the onslaught of cut-every-corner, coddle-the-user, manufacturer-knows-best, pre-loaded-full-of-crap consumer-grade PCs made by eMachines, Compaq and others. Some earmarks of the "craputer" include: Sponsored icons and Internet links on the desktop, Free Demos and Special Offers popping up at random, one-touch "shopping" buttons on the keyboard, and other factory pre-loaded marketing crap Lack of a genuine Operating System installation disc or driver diskettes. Craputers often come with a set of "Recovery Diskettes" which, if used, will format your hard drive and restore your system to exactly how it was when you got it (in other words, re-load all the craputer components, regardless of how hard you've worked to get rid of them) Slow boot-ups and sluggish system performance; system memory exhausted by the large number of unnecessary background programs (media players, task schedulers, registration reminder nags, background tasks with cryptic names and unknown purposes) loading on start-up. Is the space next to your system clock overrun with little icons? Is the Ctrl-Alt-Delete task list full, even when you close all programs and have "nothing running"? Cut corners everywhere (cheapo components and missing PC Speakers, reset buttons, case fans, audio cables...) Opening the Web Browser brings up, instead of Internet sites, an advertisement nag for the manufacturer's Partner ISP, that you can't get rid of; Won't let you set it up to use your existing Internet account Power or Reset button that doesn't work, Malfunctioning Sleep Mode, and/or "helpful" power-management features that won't take no for an answer Several Gigabytes of your hard disk taken up by a "Recovery Partition" (SYSTEM_SAV) or other useless data Craputer maker's logo displayed during boot-up, covering up any boot-up messages that might alert you to problems or help troubleshoot your system Can't get into the CMOS setup to view or change settings (see previous) http://www.cexx.org/craputer.htm Craputer?

A crap computer. The term “craputer” has been coined to describe the onslaught of cut-every-corner, coddle-the-user, manufacturer-knows-best, pre-loaded-full-of-crap consumer-grade PCs made by eMachines, Compaq and others. Some earmarks of the “craputer” include:

Sponsored icons and Internet links on the desktop, Free Demos and Special Offers popping up at random, one-touch “shopping” buttons on the keyboard, and other factory pre-loaded marketing crap
Lack of a genuine Operating System installation disc or driver diskettes. Craputers often come with a set of “Recovery Diskettes” which, if used, will format your hard drive and restore your system to exactly how it was when you got it (in other words, re-load all the craputer components, regardless of how hard you’ve worked to get rid of them)
Slow boot-ups and sluggish system performance; system memory exhausted by the large number of unnecessary background programs (media players, task schedulers, registration reminder nags, background tasks with cryptic names and unknown purposes) loading on start-up. Is the space next to your system clock overrun with little icons? Is the Ctrl-Alt-Delete task list full, even when you close all programs and have “nothing running”?
Cut corners everywhere (cheapo components and missing PC Speakers, reset buttons, case fans, audio cables…)
Opening the Web Browser brings up, instead of Internet sites, an advertisement nag for the manufacturer’s Partner ISP, that you can’t get rid of; Won’t let you set it up to use your existing Internet account
Power or Reset button that doesn’t work, Malfunctioning Sleep Mode, and/or “helpful” power-management features that won’t take no for an answer
Several Gigabytes of your hard disk taken up by a “Recovery Partition” (SYSTEM_SAV) or other useless data
Craputer maker’s logo displayed during boot-up, covering up any boot-up messages that might alert you to problems or help troubleshoot your system
Can’t get into the CMOS setup to view or change settings (see previous)

http://www.cexx.org/craputer.htm

]]> By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297/comment-page-1#comment-365231 Reader's Write Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:26:13 +0000 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15297#comment-365231 This isn't new. A couple years back I ran into a Dell with factory installed virus. I only caught the virus because I installed my AV before installing the Application Restore CD. When I tried to install the Dell Applications components Norton caught it. I think everyone should be very cafefull when they buy a new computer and be sure to do a system resotre before they use it and also do several Virus scans with different online AV tools. This isn’t new.
A couple years back I ran into a Dell with factory installed virus.
I only caught the virus because I installed my AV before installing the Application Restore CD.
When I tried to install the Dell Applications components Norton caught it.
I think everyone should be very cafefull when they buy a new computer and be sure to do a system resotre before they use it and also do several Virus scans with different online AV tools.

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