New HP's come preloaded with spyware?

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shadowstalker

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OK, here is the deal. I'm in the market for a new computer. One of my friends informed me that HP desktops are preloaded with a lot of spyware. Has anyone else heard about this? What computer brands do it, and which ones do not? I want to make sure I purchase one that doesn't have any junk..

Thanks to anyone that helps!
Shadow
 
ALL computers come with some preloaded software. Some are trial programs or 'come-ons' to the full program. This might be a nuisance to some, but it does not mean it's spyware.

You need to do your own research into the different brands of computers. See what software will be loaded. Be prepared to clean any system up when you get it.

But I have never heard such a damning statement about HP systems and you and your friend would do well to examine the true meaning of spyware. Unless you build and load a system yourself, you will not find any without some junk! And understand that what might be 'junk' to one person, might be something another person wants!
 
preinstalled malware can/does occur :(

OLD NEWS;
Posted on 17.11.2007 at 11:27 in Tech News by Martin
The Taipei Times is reporting that around 1,800 new 300GB and 500GB external hard drives
manufactured by Maxtor shipped with malware on them.
http://www.rlslog.net/malware-preinstalled-on-new-hard-drives/

More Recently;
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Apr 7, 2008 12:00 pm
Hewlett-Packard has been selling USB-based hybrid flash-floppy drives that were pre-infected
with malware, the company said last week in a security bulletin.

If a compromised drive is plugged into a USB port on any machine on the network, the
worms may spread "to any mapped drives on the server," HP's alert said.

The problem isn't limited to HP and the flash-floppy drives it sells for its servers.
In January, big-box retailer Best Buy Co. admitted it sold digital photo frames during
the 2007 holidays that contained malware. Best Buy did not recall the frames.

highly recommend reading the whole article!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/144207/hp_admits_to_selling_infected_flashfloppy_drives.html

take away: those USB ports are the current 'port of entry' to almost every system.
CAVEAT EMPTOR.
 
Thank you jobeard, I had read that. But I took it to be a one time breach. And I took the comment in the post to mean that all HP systems are shipping with malware. Guess it just depends on how you read it.
 
yep; sometimes we read into the article different things.

the take away is IT DOES HAPPEN :( GRRRRRR!
 
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