[IP] Dell - Extortion? - Follow Up
Begin forwarded message:
From: Art Wolinsky <awolinsky@xxxxxxx>
Date: May 30, 2005 6:34:31 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Dell - Extortion? - Follow Up
Within minutes of my post hitting IP, I had about a half-dozen
replies. One suggested that I go to MSCONFIG and stop it from
loading and another basically said, good luck, the only way you're
going to get rid of it is by formatting the hard drive. I decided do
some more digging and figured I'd have to bite the bullet and pay the
fee to get it off. Here's what transpired.
Here is the exact alert I received today that started it all...
New and Improved Dell Support 3 Coming Soon!
Dell Support 2.x will be automatically upgraded via the Internet to
the new Dell Support 3 by June 1st. No user interaction is required.
Dell Support 3 conducts real-time scans of your computing environment
(PC, peripherals and network devices) for potential technical support
and security issues, sends an alert when an issue arises, offering
advice and in many cases the option to choose to run an automated
fix. To learn more about what it monitors, click here."
NOTE: If you do not want to receive the upgrade, you need to
uninstall Dell Support through Add or Remove Programs in the Control
Panel.
Pay particular attention to the part about Add or Remove Programs.
Guess what folks. You CAN'T remove it that way. I paid $49.95 plus
tax to have the tech tell me that the software is on a ghost
partition of the drive and the only way to get rid of it is to
reformat the drive. I would like someone from Dell to explain to me
why I am told to remove it through the Add or Remove Programs panel,
when it can't be done. I it because people would be a tad bit upset
if the said, "If you do not want to receive the upgrade, you need
reformat your hard drive."
Personally, I feel this puts Dell right in the same category with the
spyware folks we all know and love. The tech was quick to point out
at there are plenty of other utilities that report information back
to companies. To that I replied, yes, and every one of them gives me
the option of not installing it or purchasing it. Even the worst
spyware can be removed without reformatting a hard drive. Dell's
software is going on my computer whether I like it or not and the
only way I can prevent it is to do a full data back up, reformat my
hard drive, and spend the next 3-4 day reinstalling all of my software.
I really don't think that's worth paying $50+ to find out. At that
point, I asked him to put me in contact with someone who could refund
the $49.95 plus tax that I had just paid. I was connected and
without a great deal of difficulty or undue time, I did get the refund.
As things stand, Dell will be losing me as a customer.
Art
Art Wolinsky
OEO 3DWriting, Inc.
awolinsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.3dwriting.com
I am perfectly capable of learning from my mistakes.
I will surely learn a great deal today.
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