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Lenovo found to include unremovable software which spies on users (a clean install of Windows doesn't fix it - BIOS level)

GoodBytes
By GoodBytes
in Tech News
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Posted

Get out your tin foil hats, ladies and gents, the chinese are at it again.

I am conducting some polls regarding your opinion of large technology companies. I would appreciate your response. 

Microsoft Apple Valve Google Facebook Oculus HTC AMD Intel Nvidia

I'm using this data to judge this site's biases so people can post in a more objective way.

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The moment I was about to buy a Lenevo Y50

Exactly my position. I was torn between an ultrabook or a refurbished Y50, and well... This happened. 

if you have to insist you think for yourself, i'm not going to believe you.

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Maybe this is how the Chinese manage to commit so much corporate espionage so easily. They just wait for companies to buy their business laptops.

<p> AMD Ryzen 7 5800x l ASUS TUF X570-PLUS l G.Skill Trident Z Neo Series RGB 32GB l Sapphire Pulse RX 7900 XTX

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Exactly my position. I was torn between an ultrabook or a refurbished Y50, and well... This happened. 

I guess I just have to go with Asus G55 models

Ｉｎｓｅｒｔ   Ｄａｎｋ   Ｓｉｇｎａｔｕｒｅ   Ｈｅｒｅ．

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WOO dodged a bullet there! The Y40-80 is the only Y-series affected.  I have a Y40-70 :D

QUOTE ME OR I PROBABLY WON'T SEE YOUR RESPONSE 

My Setup:

 

Desktop

Spoiler

CPU: Ryzen 9 3900X  CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15  Motherboard: Asus Prime X370-PRO  RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 @3200MHz  GPU: EVGA RTX 2080 FTW3 ULTRA (+50 core +400 memory)  Storage: 1050GB Crucial MX300, 1TB Crucial MX500  PSU: EVGA Supernova 750 P2  Chassis: NZXT Noctis 450 White/Blue OS: Windows 10 Professional  Displays: Asus MG279Q FreeSync OC, LG 27GL850-B

 

Main Laptop:

Spoiler

Laptop: Sager NP 8678-S  CPU: Intel Core i7 6820HK @ 2.7GHz  RAM: 32GB DDR4 @ 2133MHz  GPU: GTX 980m 8GB  Storage: 250GB Samsung 850 EVO M.2 + 1TB Samsung 850 Pro + 1TB 7200RPM HGST HDD  OS: Windows 10 Pro  Chassis: Clevo P670RG  Audio: HyperX Cloud II Gunmetal, Audio Technica ATH-M50s, JBL Creature II

 

Thinkpad T420:

Spoiler

CPU: i5 2520M  RAM: 8GB DDR3  Storage: 275GB Crucial MX30

 

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First SuperFish, now this. I don't trust Leno of anymore.

LTT's unofficial Windows activation expert.
 

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Geez Lenovo really? it's the second time in a few months, first superfish and now this?

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Lmao, and remember this?

 

Lenovo sees the light, will stop shipping PCs with 'adware and bloatware'

http://www.neowin.net/news/lenovo-sees-the-light-will-stop-shipping-pcs-with-039adware-and-bloatware039

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

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Fucking Christ lenovo first malware and now this?

Can you give ibm back the thinkpad please? 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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The article specifically states "laptops".  I was just informed that Lenovo also makes desktops, which I was unaware of.

Do you think this also affects their desktop machines?

 

 

Curious

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Fucking Christ lenovo first malware and now this?

Can you give ibm back the thinkpad please? 

IBM may be shit at marketing, but they do know how to build a bloody good computer and OS (oh, and fuck Windows 3.1).

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

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@GoodBytes think it would simple enough to mod a bios to remove this? 

I mean I would think 

I have a new low end lenovo laptop, maybe I should see about this 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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  • Author

@GoodBytes think it would simple enough to mod a bios to remove this? 

I mean I would think 

I have a new low end lenovo laptop, maybe I should see about this

I have really no idea.

It's worth a look if you have time and patience however.

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I have really no idea.

It's worth a look if you have time and patience however.

I don't really have the time, and aside from some vbioses I've never messed with anything that's not on a desktop motherboard that has a "dual bios" feature with anything major in case I fuck up

I'm sure someone will do that 

muh specs 

Gaming and HTPC (reparations)- ASUS 1080, MSI X99A SLI Plus, 5820k- 4.5GHz @ 1.25v, asetek based 360mm AIO, RM 1000x, 16GB memory, 750D with front USB 2.0 replaced with 3.0  ports, 2 250GB 850 EVOs in Raid 0 (why not, only has games on it), some hard drives

Screens- Acer preditor XB241H (1080p, 144Hz Gsync), LG 1080p ultrawide, (all mounted) directly wired to TV in other room

Stuff- k70 with reds, steel series rival, g13, full desk covering mouse mat

All parts black

Workstation(desk)- 3770k, 970 reference, 16GB of some crucial memory, a motherboard of some kind I don't remember, Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI, CM Storm Trooper (It's got a handle, can you handle that?), 240mm Asetek based AIO, Crucial M550 256GB (upgrade soon), some hard drives, disc drives, and hot swap bays

Screens- 3  ASUS VN248H-P IPS 1080p screens mounted on a stand, some old tv on the wall above it. 

Stuff- Epicgear defiant (solderless swappable switches), g600, moutned mic and other stuff. 

Laptop docking area- 2 1440p korean monitors mounted, one AHVA matte, one samsung PLS gloss (very annoying, yes). Trashy Razer blackwidow chroma...I mean like the J key doesn't click anymore. I got a model M i use on it to, but its time for a new keyboard. Some edgy Utechsmart mouse similar to g600. Hooked to laptop dock for both of my dell precision laptops. (not only docking area)

Shelf- i7-2600 non-k (has vt-d), 380t, some ASUS sandy itx board, intel quad nic. Currently hosts shared files, setting up as pfsense box in VM. Also acts as spare gaming PC with a 580 or whatever someone brings. Hooked into laptop dock area via usb switch

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I don't really have the time, and aside from some vbioses I've never messed with anything that's not on a desktop motherboard that has a "dual bios" feature with anything major in case I fuck up

I'm sure someone will do that

this might help http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=29497693&sid=ddf3e32512932172454de515091db014#p29497693

this is one of the greatest thing that has happened to me recently, and it happened on this forum, those involved have my eternal gratitude http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/198850-update-alex-got-his-moto-g2-lets-get-a-moto-g-for-alexgoeshigh-unofficial/ :')

i use to have the second best link in the world here, but it died ;_; its a 404 now but it will always be here

 

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i hate life

My Cheap But Good Rig: I7-3770s, Intel Motherboard (actually made by intel), 16gb DDR3, Nvidia Gtx 1070, 250gb Samsung 850 EVO SSD, 750gb HDD, Evga 500 BR power supply

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@GoodBytes think it would simple enough to mod a bios to remove this? 

I mean I would think 

I have a new low end lenovo laptop, maybe I should see about this 

 

Lenovo already provide a means to disable this as it has security vulnerabilities, see link in post #30. No BIOS mod necessary.

 

Link to tool for cleaning up and disabling LSE for those that have trouble reading.

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds104370

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I wonder where all the spying apologists are now. You know, the "got nothing to fear if you got nothing to hide", "we don't know exactly what info they are collecting but they say it's not personal so therefore this is acceptable" and "it's okay because other companies does it too" people.

Fuck Lenovo. I hope they get sued. Being sued and losing money seems to be the only way to stop companies from completely screwing their users over. And yes I hope it happens to all companies that does this backhandedly (including Microsoft).

I am usually not for adding more laws but clearly we need to do something about our current privacy protection laws. Even if Lenovo say they don't collection personal information, there is no way to hold them accountable. They are the only ones who has access to the evidence that they are innocent/guilty.

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The moment I was about to buy a Lenevo Y50

It's not affected.

i5 4670k @ 4.2GHz (Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo); ASrock Z87 EXTREME4; 8GB Kingston HyperX Beast DDR3 RAM @ 2133MHz; Asus DirectCU GTX 560; Super Flower Golden King 550 Platinum PSU;1TB Seagate Barracuda;Corsair 200r case. 

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Well I'm done buying from them Damn it and I really like thinkpada but Lenovo keeps making horrible business choices

Desktop:ryzen 5 3600 | MSI b45m bazooka | EVGA 650w Icoolermaster masterbox nr400 |16 gb ddr4  corsiar lpx| Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1070ti |500GB SSD+2TB SSHD, 2tb seagate barracuda [OS/games/mass storage] | HpZR240w 1440p led I logitech g502 proteus spectrum| Coolermaster quick fire pro cherry mx  brown |

 

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