Lenovo Caught Installing Immortal Crapware - Comments Page 2

"I don't think there was any malicious intent here on Lenovo's part. But they were inexcusably sloppy. Can Lenovo be trusted again?"

It is why I didn't even consider a Lenovo when I recently bought the laptop I'm writing this on. So, no, I won't be trusting them for a while, anyway. (Hint, I'm still not buying anything by Sony because of that rootkit they installed via their music CDs-- so it won't be a short while.)

I was there when IBM hived off its PC / Laptop division to Lenova and sold it to China. I have never bought one and I would advise against it to anyone who asks! They are overpriced and under-featured ,, not to mention that they are under the control of the Chinese Government !! There are much better deals out there!
As for linux being affected too (as Russ stated in his post ) I wouldn't bet on it , because "The Lenovo Service Engine (LSE) utility, which is built on the WPBT platform," and " In 2011, Microsoft added a feature to Windows called Windows Platform Binary Table (WPBT). It allows computer vendors like Lenovo to store software in a PC’s firmware and inject it into the Windows system files upon startup. Such software is practically undetectable and “immortal.” I don't think Linux has a WPBT equivalent so it should be immune !!

Reading this on my brand new Lenovo ThinkPad, so new I'm still installing software. I guess I can feel safe with both the "Think" name and its manufacture about a month ago. I'm unhappy with any laptops that I've had that aren't Lenovo (started with IBM). Whatever we think of China, I think we'll have to build our own log cabin in the woods if we expect to avoid all things Chinese.

Normally I dont comment, but I have a friend who just bought a Lenovo laptop, and I think that some of this may be of concern, but I was (UN)impressed when I clicked the laptop procedure fix and was taken to the Lenovo site. At the top of the page is a banner..."...using this website you allow us to place cookies on your computer. They are harmless and never personally identify you."

Not a good idea in my opinion for a site that is already under the gun for security concerns!

Who can you trust?

I don't have a Lenovo machine so this is a hypothetical question, but I wonder if installing a Linux distro would make a difference. I'm just thinking about saving an investment in a laptop that you don't trust anymore.

"Fool me once... Shame on you.

Fool me twice... Shame on me!"

Could a person defeat it by adding a simple .BAT file that would be included in the list of programs that run on startup that would have two commands: DEL \windows\system32\LenovoUpdate.exe and DEL \windows\system32\LenovoCheck.exe?

EDITOR'S NOTE: No, because they would already have executed. Why not just use the LSE removal tool?

Lenovo ship so much malware that my laptop (e550) is unable to upgrade to Windows 10 from 8.1. Bob's story comes as no surprise. Never again will I buy from Lenovo.

Anyone who would buy a Lenovo is a fool. And I, for one, am no fool. You have lost a customer for life Lenovo!

Because of the sudden loss of my laptop I was forced to buy a new one ASAP, while on vacation. I got it about a week ago from Best Buy. Wouldn't you know it - a Lenovo. The model name is apparently "Edge 15", which is not on that list, so I guess I'm safe from that horror.
I installed Win 10 on first start-up but immediately started getting pop-ups, etc. constantly. I put on free AVG anti-virus and Malwarebytes, and between the 2 they found almost 200 occurances including 4 viruses. After letting those programs delete/quarantine I have had no more pop ups, but who knows what else is on here.

Thanks for this great info. I am joining the others who say they will never buy Lenovo products.

I got a new Lenovo desktop coming in on Monday and the first thing I am going to do is check the Bios for LSE. Other than that it does look like quite a machine......thanks for the warning.

Can you imagine what will happen if someone can flash the BIOS remotely?

When I had my computer store I sold a ton of IBM ThinkPad laptops. Built like tanks and very reliable. Killer to work on cuz they were so solidly built. Then Lenovo bought the lappy stuff from IBM and for a while they kept up with IBM's standards. Then they started to slip with more bloat-ware and and less than stellar hardware. Buffer-overflow ... I haven't seen that since my first Z80 comp running CP/M.

I've got my G550 in 2009, Win7, still the IBM quality, and love it. I am glad I was not thinking of buying a 'modern' one!

I bought a Lenovo all in one about a year ago, had it a month and nothing but trouble with it all the time. It was a mess and software that kept crashing etc. I sent it back to new egg and told them to dump Lenovo, they are junk, being a computer technician retired, I know just when I see it, beautiful looking machine, but they just did not work right, so back it went and I will not buy another Lenovo anything and even today they still are junk...

"Can you imagine what will happen if someone can flash the BIOS remotely?"

Now there's a question! (I recall the time when it was thought that remotely accessing a machine's camera was impossible—and look what happened.)

It that even theoretically possible?

1. Boycott Lenovo.
2. If you do, simply re-flash the firmware.
3. Erm, perhaps just run Linux...?

Very informative article and interesting. It seems more and more suppliers are embedding adware and unwanted junk in items you want and make it difficult to get rid of it. Sad we have come to this.