There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
million machines may be vulnerable.

https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/

I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.

On 6/25/21 7:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:
>
> There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
> program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
> million machines may be vulnerable.
>
> https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
>
> I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.
>

Dell went to hell after Michael sold it.

Dell's Tech Support has always sucked. I especially
loved their practice of taking bad proprietary
returned hardware, putting it through the parts
cleaner, then putting it back in warranty
replacement hardware. They never replaced with new.
And you got back everyone else's problems. You
were basically screwed.

On Fri, 25 Jun 2021 22:41:57 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com>
wrote:

>
>There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
>program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
>million machines may be vulnerable.
>
>https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
>
>I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.

Anything that updates system files/drivers automatically
through "the cloud" is subject to this kind of thing. It's a
deliberate backdoor that can be targeted by the "bad guys". Both
normal criminals and government agencies(the last would have
"legitimate" certificates).
Much better is to allow the user to download, quarantine for a
few days then check the SHAs of the downloads with multiple AVs before
installing.
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012

On Fri, 25 Jun 2021 22:41:57 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com>
wrote:

>
>There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
>program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
>million machines may be vulnerable.
>
>https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
>
>I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.

I dumped "Support Assist" a couple of years ago.

Slightly off-topic: I recently checked for driver updates on the Dell
website. It told me I needed an emergency "safety" update for the CPU
chip driver. I followed the link provided, and downloaded the
"updated" driver. I then saw that it had the same version number in
the file name as the "older" driver I already have.

So I sent them a message, asking if the link was indeed to a NEW
driver as the email said. Their reply: "Drivers can be downloaded from
the Dell website...."

Yeah, that was helpful.

-dan z-

--
Protect your civil rights!
Let the politicians know how you feel.
Join or donate to the NRA today!
http://membership.nrahq.org/default.asp?campaignid=XR014887
(use cut and paste to your browser if necessary)

Gun control is like trying to reduce drunk driving by making it tougher for sober people to own cars.

On 6/25/21 8:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:
>
> There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
> program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
> million machines may be vulnerable.
>
> https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
>
> I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.
>

Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.

On 2021 Jun 26, ray wrote
(in article <ijoto4Ft076U1@mid.individual.net>):

> On 6/25/21 8:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:
> >
> > There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
> > program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
> > million machines may be vulnerable.
> >
> > https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
> >
> > I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.
>
> Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.

I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the
company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed
by heat in two generations of Dell ‘business’ systems. After accounting
saw just how many dead drives we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved
purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers
and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.

Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought
Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased
in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capacity, and whose hard drive
was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills
drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.

I hate Dell.

On 2021-06-26, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:
> On 2021 Jun 26, ray wrote
> (in article <ijoto4Ft076U1@mid.individual.net>):
>
>> On 6/25/21 8:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:
>> >
>> > There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
>> > program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
>> > million machines may be vulnerable.
>> >
>> > https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
>> >
>> > I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.
>>
>> Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.
>
> I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the
> company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed
> by heat in two generations of Dell ‘business’ systems. After accounting
> saw just how many dead drives we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved
> purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers
> and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
>
> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought
> Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased
> in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capacity, and whose hard drive
> was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills
> drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
>
> I hate Dell.

Me too.
Biggest problem with Dell is the BIOS. They hide many of the options so
the user can't see or change them and AFAIK there is no way around it
other than to side load a custom BIOS.
Then there is all the bloatware and trial software that is installed.
The tech support is useless. You are better off doing an Internet
search on your own.
While the price point is usually pretty good, the quality of the
components can be marginal.

IMHO there are much better choices to be made.

--
pothead
Tommy Chong For President 2024
Lifetime Member of "The Prescott Parasite Eradication Team"
Ask snit how he pissed on his cat.
All about snit read below. Links courtesy of Ron:
https://web.archive.org/web/20181028000459/http://www.cosmicpenguin.com/snit.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20190529043314/http://cosmicpenguin.com/snitlist.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20190529062255/http://cosmicpenguin.com/snitLieMethods.html

On 2021-06-26 10:00 a.m., ray wrote:
> On 6/25/21 8:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:
>>
>> There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
>> program bundled with 129 Dell desktop &  laptop systems. Approximately 30
>> million machines may be vulnerable.
>>
>> https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
>>
>> I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.
>>
>
> Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.

My first PC was a Delll 'Dimension XPS 100, 700 Mhz CPU, 16 MB of
memory, Creative soundblaster card, Number9 video card, a Travan 1000
tape drive and a set of Altec Lansing ACS-31 speakers with subwoofer
I Paid $4100.00 cdn for the system in 1995, It was a great system for
the time and never had a moments trouble , I sold it in 2000, and
started building my own systems since then, my last 2 builds were last year.

Rene

T <T@invalid.invalid> Wrote in message:r
> On 6/25/21 7:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:> > There?s a severe bug in Dell?s Support Assist app, a Dell ?security?> program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30> million machines may be vulnerable.> > https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/> > I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.> Dell went to hell after Michael sold it.Dell's Tech Support has always sucked. I especiallyloved their practice of taking bad proprietaryreturned hardware, putting it through the partscleaner, then putting it back in warrantyreplacement hardware. They never replaced with new.And you got back everyone else's problems. Youwere basically screwed.

Dell wasn't ever really one of the better PC makers. It has always
been overpriced with relatively low end hardware.
--
Insert sarcasm IC to enable outgoing Signatures.

Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com> Wrote in message:r
> On 2021 Jun 26, ray wrote(in article <ijoto4Ft076U1@mid.individual.net>):> On 6/25/21 8:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:> >> > There?s a severe bug in Dell?s Support Assist app, a Dell ?security?> > program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30> > million machines may be vulnerable.> >> > https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/> >> > I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.>> Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.I haven?t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed by heat in two generations of Dell ?business? systems. After accounting saw just how many dead drives we?d accumulated, Dell was off the approved purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I?m talking about.Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capacity, and whose hard drive was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to h
eat. Dell kills drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.I hate Dell.

At a job I worked last century with Gremlin the biggest name brand
computers with hd issues for the most part was Dell. They were
bad about using the near bottom tier for component sourcing. The
case designs contributed to the unwanted heat issues that you
outlined above.

The optiplex had to be one of the worst case designs they ever
came out with.
--
Insert sarcasm IC to enable outgoing Signatures.

pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> Wrote in message:r
> On 2021-06-26, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:> On 2021 Jun 26, ray wrote> (in article <ijoto4Ft076U1@mid.individual.net>):>>> On 6/25/21 8:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:>> >>> > There?s a severe bug in Dell?s Support Assist app, a Dell ?security?>> > program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30>> > million machines may be vulnerable.>> >>> > https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/>> >>> > I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.>>>> Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.>> I haven?t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the > company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed > by heat in two generations of Dell ?business? systems. After accounting > saw just how many dead drives we?d accumulated, Dell was off the approved > purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers > and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I?m talking about.>> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought > Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased > in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capaci
ty, and whose hard drive > was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills > drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.>> I hate Dell.Me too.Biggest problem with Dell is the BIOS. They hide many of the options sothe user can't see or change them and AFAIK there is no way around itother than to side load a custom BIOS.Then there is all the bloatware and trial software that is installed.The tech support is useless. You are better off doing an Internetsearch on your own.While the price point is usually pretty good, the quality of thecomponents can be marginal.IMHO there are much better choices to be made.-- potheadTommy Chong For President 2024Lifetime Member of "The Prescott Parasite Eradication Team"Ask snit how he pissed on his cat. All about snit read below. Links courtesy of Ron:https://web.archive.org/web/20181028000459/http://www.cosmicpenguin.com/snit.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20190529043314/http://cosmicpenguin.com/snitlist.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20190529062255/http://cosmicpenguin.com/snitLieMethods.html

The BIOS was awful with the majority. I've personally seen little
improvement with them over the years. An honest tech will tell
you they appreciate people buying Dells because its a future
repair in the making.
--
Insert sarcasm IC to enable outgoing Signatures.

On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 11:21:45 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:

>I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the
>company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed
>by heat in two generations of Dell ‘business’ systems. After accounting
>saw just how many dead drives we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved
>purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers
>and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
>
>Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought
>Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased
>in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capacity, and whose hard drive
>was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills
>drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
>
>I hate Dell.

I know this is a "I hate Dell" thread, but my personal/primary laptop is a
Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520, bought in early 2013. I've had absolutely no
issues with it and would gladly buy another Dell laptop. I've never used a
Dell desktop, so I don't know about that.

My other laptop is an HP dv7-6185, bought in mid-2009. On that one, the
speakers and the WiFi module died a couple years ago. Since then, we use
external speakers, which is fine because the laptop rarely moves, and a USB
WiFi dongle. The WiFi dongle is an upgrade, since it covers both the 2.4
and the 5GHz bands, whereas the internal WiFi only covered 2.4GHz.

On 6/26/2021 12:45 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
> On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 11:21:45 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:
>
>> I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the
>> company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed
>> by heat in two generations of Dell ‘business’ systems. After accounting
>> saw just how many dead drives we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved
>> purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers
>> and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
>>
>> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought
>> Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased
>> in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capacity, and whose hard drive
>> was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills
>> drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
>>
>> I hate Dell.
>
> I know this is a "I hate Dell" thread, but my personal/primary laptop is a
> Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520, bought in early 2013. I've had absolutely no
> issues with it and would gladly buy another Dell laptop. I've never used a
> Dell desktop, so I don't know about that.
>
> My other laptop is an HP dv7-6185, bought in mid-2009. On that one, the
> speakers and the WiFi module died a couple years ago. Since then, we use
> external speakers, which is fine because the laptop rarely moves, and a USB
> WiFi dongle. The WiFi dongle is an upgrade, since it covers both the 2.4
> and the 5GHz bands, whereas the internal WiFi only covered 2.4GHz.
>
I've had a few Dell laptops and I drove one in the ground it lasted so
long, and the 2nd one died when I poured a drink into the keyboard &
fried the MB.

The current Dell I'm on is about 18mo old and runs like a champ.
Running Linux & Windows 10.

On 26/06/2021 16:37, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
>
> On 2021-06-26 10:00 a.m., ray wrote:
>>
>> Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.
>
> My first PC was a Delll 'Dimension XPS 100, 700 Mhz CPU, 16 MB of
> memory, Creative soundblaster card, Number9 video card, a Travan 1000
> tape drive and a set of Altec Lansing ACS-31 speakers with subwoofer
> I Paid $4100.00 cdn for the system in 1995, It was a great system for
> the time and never had a moments trouble , I sold it in 2000, and
> started building my own systems since then, my last 2 builds were last
> year.

Yes, and no. I have little experience of Dell desktops/towers, because
my last firm before I retired used Compaqs, then HPs after the merger,
Thinkpads for laptops. However, since then I've owned a number of Dell
laptops, and most have been mostly fine.

My first was a Latitude D610, which is still working, though its
original IDE HD has died a year or so ago, and given the difficulty of
finding a reliable replacement, it runs now off a SATA one in the CD/DVD
drive bay. The problem with this is that even though the internal drive
has been removed from the BIOS boot order, it still hangs on boot while
it looks for one, and I have to press <F1> when inevitably it fails.
Not very bright programming of the BIOS there certainly, but at least it
still works. I originally bought it to digitise my vinyl collection,
because the best HiFi was downstairs while all my computing stuff was in
my office upstairs. I plugged the amp into a USB Terratec sound card,
and sent each digitisation upstairs via WiFi when it was done. After
some initial teething problems the system worked very well.

The next one was the sole exception, a second-hand/used Dell Precision
M4300 which had a major design fault in that the battery tended to hang
out of the bottom a little way, so if you picked it up to move it and
touched the battery, you'd disconnect the power momentarily and the
machine would hang or reboot. It also developed a fault with the
underside RAM socket, so I could only put 2GB in it, and finally the
video chip blew, which a search then revealed to be the most common
cause of death in these machines, nearly all seemed to die this way. I
don't agree with advice above to ignore Dells completely, but that
particular model is certainly one to avoid completely.

Confusingly however, Dell Precision M6300s, 6 not 4, are fine. I have
two of these, one running XP, the other W7, and both Ubuntu also. They
have nice big screens, and, if a little slow for W7 by today's
standards, so far have been very reliable. They are quite heavy though,
perhaps more of a luggable than a portable.

And I'm typing this on a Dell Inspiron laptop bought in 2012/3 which is
still my main PC, and has been fine. One thing that struck me as being
dumb about this model series at the time I purchased this one, is that
they did an HD screen version, but the optical drive was not Blu-Ray!
Duh! Given that streaming was far less common at the time, what was the
point of having an HD screen if you couldn't play HD material in the
optical drive! So obviously I saved some money by buying the normal
screen version, but my saving was Dell's loss.

There are other criticisms in the thread, for example about driver
downloads. The different models vary, and the similarity of names
between radically different hardware, exemplified by the Precision M4300
(really bad) and M6300 (really quite decent) models also makes getting
the right drivers confusingly difficult. I find the best way is to use
the service tag on the label underneath, which IIRC can also be read in
the BIOS if the label has been removed or become unreadable. However,
this doesn't always find all the drivers, and occasionally I've found
yellow question marks in Device Manager requiring searching Dell's site
to find the missing driver, which is certainly a PITA, and, given the
correct service tag, really shouldn't be necessary.

--

Fake news kills!

I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
www.macfh.co.uk

On 6/26/2021 8:21 AM, Wolffan wrote:
> On 2021 Jun 26, ray wrote
> (in article <ijoto4Ft076U1@mid.individual.net>):
>
>> On 6/25/21 8:41 PM, Wolffan wrote:
>> >
>> > There’s a severe bug in Dell’s Support Assist app, a Dell ‘security’
>> > program bundled with 129 Dell desktop & laptop systems. Approximately 30
>> > million machines may be vulnerable.
>> >
>> > https://eclypsium.com/2021/06/24/biosdisconnect/
>> >
>> > I now have yet another reason to hate bloody Dell.
>>
>> Simple enough solution - don't get another Dell.
>
> I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the
> company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed
> by heat in two generations of Dell ‘business’ systems. After accounting
> saw just how many dead drives we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved
> purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers
> and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
>
> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought
> Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased
> in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capacity, and whose hard drive
> was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills
> drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
>
> I hate Dell.

My wife has a low price Dell desktop, which she's had for six or seven
years. It's been fine and meets her very modest needs. She's never had a
problem with it.

--
Ken

On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 12:51:30 -0400
Big Al <Big_Al@invalid.com> wrote:

> On 6/26/2021 12:45 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
> > On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 11:21:45 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com>
> > wrote:
> >> I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I
> >> convinced the company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the
> >> many hard drives killed by heat in two generations of Dell
> >> ‘business’ systems. After accounting saw just how many dead drives
> >> we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved purchasing lisy, thank
> >> you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers and
> >> minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
> >>
> >> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and
> >> bought Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a
> >> laptop purchased in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design
> >> capacity, and whose hard drive was replaced by a SSD. And, yes,
> >> the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills drives by overheating
> >> them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
> >>
> >> I hate Dell.
> >
> > I know this is a "I hate Dell" thread, but my personal/primary
> > laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520, bought in early 2013. I've
> > had absolutely no issues with it and would gladly buy another Dell
> > laptop. I've never used a Dell desktop, so I don't know about that.
> >
> > My other laptop is an HP dv7-6185, bought in mid-2009. On that one,
> > the speakers and the WiFi module died a couple years ago. Since
> > then, we use external speakers, which is fine because the laptop
> > rarely moves, and a USB WiFi dongle. The WiFi dongle is an upgrade,
> > since it covers both the 2.4 and the 5GHz bands, whereas the
> > internal WiFi only covered 2.4GHz.
> I've had a few Dell laptops and I drove one in the ground it lasted
> so long, and the 2nd one died when I poured a drink into the keyboard
> & fried the MB.
>
> The current Dell I'm on is about 18mo old and runs like a champ.
> Running Linux & Windows 10.
>

I have a Dell Optiplex 7050 16 GB of RAM and a Samsung SSD. I think
it's the best computer I have ever had. I don't see how over heating
could ever be a problem, and the UEFI settings are very easy to navigate
compared to the HP UEFI settings. Of course I'm using Linux Mint.

Char Jackson wrote:
> On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 11:21:45 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com> wrote:
>
>> I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I convinced the
>> company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the many hard drives killed
>> by heat in two generations of Dell ‘business’ systems. After accounting
>> saw just how many dead drives we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved
>> purchasing lisy, thank you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers
>> and minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
>>
>> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and bought
>> Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a laptop purchased
>> in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design capacity, and whose hard drive
>> was replaced by a SSD. And, yes, the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills
>> drives by overheating them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
>>
>> I hate Dell.
>
> I know this is a "I hate Dell" thread, but my personal/primary laptop is a
> Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520, bought in early 2013. I've had absolutely no
> issues with it and would gladly buy another Dell laptop. I've never used a
> Dell desktop, so I don't know about that.
>
> My other laptop is an HP dv7-6185, bought in mid-2009. On that one, the
> speakers and the WiFi module died a couple years ago. Since then, we use
> external speakers, which is fine because the laptop rarely moves, and a USB
> WiFi dongle. The WiFi dongle is an upgrade, since it covers both the 2.4
> and the 5GHz bands, whereas the internal WiFi only covered 2.4GHz.
>

It makes a difference whether the product has Management Engine
enabled or not, as an attack surface. ME is normally a part of their
Business lineup.

All those refurb Optiplexes have Q chipsets with ME, but it
should be de-equipped from a "mostly operational" point of view.

Thanks to Intel, we can't have a motherboard jumper labeled "ME OFF",
so it is never entirely possible to dismiss remote attacks. Or
remote invitations to "enter" for that matter.

As two examples, the Test Machine (home build) has an ME hidden in it,
but it's disabled (wrong SKU so should not work). The Optiplex has a Q45
chipset and ME is "available". But who knows what it's capable
of right now, as I'm sitting here. It could dial out. It has
Computrace, which is set to "disabled" in the BIOS, as some
sort of joke (Computrace should still work, no matter what).

Maybe the OEM computers you people got are "Wonder Ponies",
but on the other hand, they're "filled with stuff that squeaks".
And again, thanks to Intel and others, are not particularly
trustworthy.

As an example of something that squeaks, the Business laptops
have passwords. The passwords are stored in a 2K serial EEPROM.
Let's say you don't set the passwords. A colleague could come
by your desk and set the password on you. Now, in the old days,
you'd just pull the CMOS battery and it's all fixed (no password
again). Well, on the Business laptops, pulling the battery does
nothing, and the <unknown> password prompt is staring you in
the face. This means you're pretty well "bound" to the password
scheme and must use it. Or, someone will play an expensive joke on
you (needs "factory reset").

That's why I do all my computing with the Celeron 300 and 440BX
chipset. Because all it did, was be a computer. It had no
pretenses to being an Internet Poker Machine.

Paul

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> Wrote in message:r Ponies",but on the
other hand, they're "filled with stuff that squeaks".And again,
thanks to Intel and others, are not particularlytrustworthy.As an
example of something that squeaks, the Business laptopshave
passwords. The passwords are stored in a 2K serial EEPROM.Let's
say you don't set the passwords. A colleague could comeby your
desk and set the password on you. Now, in the old days,you'd just
pull the CMOS battery and it's all fixed (no passwordagain).
Well, on the Business laptops, pulling the battery doesnothing,
and the <unknown> password prompt is staring you inthe face. This
means you're pretty well "bound" to the passwordscheme and must
use it. Or, someone will play an expensive joke onyou (needs
"factory reset").That's why I do all my computing with the
Celeron 300 and 440BXchipset. Because all it did, was be a
computer. It had nopretenses to being an Internet Poker Machine.
Paul

Computrace is/was a subscription service. For anti theft. And
depending on how it was implemented it could be nothing more than
an eeprom flash away from removal.

The dell password setting u mentioned has a backdoor to it. Theres
a "master" password based on your service id tag. With the right
software or a friendly Dell technician you can use the master
password to get in and remove the previously set password without
having to know what it was.
--
Insert sarcasm IC to enable outgoing Signatures.

On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 15:03:56 -0400 (EDT), TheGremlin
<michaelanne@glassergrifters.itsourmoneynow.screwuandhow> wrote:

>Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> Wrote in message:r Ponies",but on the
> other hand, they're "filled with stuff that squeaks".And again,
> thanks to Intel and others, are not particularlytrustworthy.As an
> example of something that squeaks, the Business laptopshave
> passwords. The passwords are stored in a 2K serial EEPROM.Let's
> say you don't set the passwords. A colleague could comeby your
> desk and set the password on you. Now, in the old days,you'd just
> pull the CMOS battery and it's all fixed (no passwordagain).
> Well, on the Business laptops, pulling the battery doesnothing,
> and the <unknown> password prompt is staring you inthe face. This
> means you're pretty well "bound" to the passwordscheme and must
> use it. Or, someone will play an expensive joke onyou (needs
> "factory reset").That's why I do all my computing with the
> Celeron 300 and 440BXchipset. Because all it did, was be a
> computer. It had nopretenses to being an Internet Poker Machine.
> Paul
>
>Computrace is/was a subscription service. For anti theft. And
> depending on how it was implemented it could be nothing more than
> an eeprom flash away from removal.
>
>The dell password setting u mentioned has a backdoor to it. Theres
> a "master" password based on your service id tag. With the right
> software or a friendly Dell technician you can use the master
> password to get in and remove the previously set password without
> having to know what it was.

True. I had to resort to a third party "master password
remover" to unlock a Dell which was given to my sister and she gave to
me. Otherwise I couldn't install XP on it.
On the upside, that laptop still works. It's an i7 from circa
2010.
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012

On 6/26/21 7:14 AM, slate_leeper wrote:

[snip]

> So I sent them a message, asking if the link was indeed to a NEW
> driver as the email said. Their reply: "Drivers can be downloaded from
> the Dell website...."
>
> Yeah, that was helpful.
>
> -dan z-

I've often gotten answers from "customer service" don't say anything
about the question I asked. A lot of these are read by bots. This
wouldn't be too bad if they could read.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Does God ever wonder if he has a higher purpose than how he relates to
human beings?"

Johnny graced us with on 6/26/2021 10:04 AM:
> On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 12:51:30 -0400
> Big Al <Big_Al@invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> On 6/26/2021 12:45 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
>>> On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 11:21:45 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I
>>>> convinced the company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the
>>>> many hard drives killed by heat in two generations of Dell
>>>> ‘business’ systems. After accounting saw just how many dead drives
>>>> we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved purchasing lisy, thank
>>>> you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers and
>>>> minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
>>>>
>>>> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and
>>>> bought Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a
>>>> laptop purchased in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design
>>>> capacity, and whose hard drive was replaced by a SSD. And, yes,
>>>> the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills drives by overheating
>>>> them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
>>>>
>>>> I hate Dell.
>>> I know this is a "I hate Dell" thread, but my personal/primary
>>> laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520, bought in early 2013. I've
>>> had absolutely no issues with it and would gladly buy another Dell
>>> laptop. I've never used a Dell desktop, so I don't know about that.
>>>
>>> My other laptop is an HP dv7-6185, bought in mid-2009. On that one,
>>> the speakers and the WiFi module died a couple years ago. Since
>>> then, we use external speakers, which is fine because the laptop
>>> rarely moves, and a USB WiFi dongle. The WiFi dongle is an upgrade,
>>> since it covers both the 2.4 and the 5GHz bands, whereas the
>>> internal WiFi only covered 2.4GHz.
>> I've had a few Dell laptops and I drove one in the ground it lasted
>> so long, and the 2nd one died when I poured a drink into the keyboard
>> & fried the MB.
>>
>> The current Dell I'm on is about 18mo old and runs like a champ.
>> Running Linux & Windows 10.
>>
>
> I have a Dell Optiplex 7050 16 GB of RAM and a Samsung SSD. I think
> it's the best computer I have ever had. I don't see how over heating
> could ever be a problem, and the UEFI settings are very easy to navigate
> compared to the HP UEFI settings. Of course I'm using Linux Mint.
>
Ditto, my XPS 8900 has been rock solid; although, I have experienced
problems with their laptop keyboards in the past.

--
Sailfish
CDC Covid19 Trends: https://www.facebook.com/groups/624208354841034
Rare Mozilla Stuff: http://tinyurl.com/z86x3sg

On 6/26/2021 2:20 PM, Sailfish wrote:
> Johnny graced us with on 6/26/2021 10:04 AM:
>> On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 12:51:30 -0400
>> Big Al <Big_Al@invalid.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 6/26/2021 12:45 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 26 Jun 2021 11:21:45 -0400, Wolffan <akwolffan@zoho.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> I haven’t bought a Dell for personal use for over 20 years. I
>>>>> convinced the company to not buy Dells by stacking up a few of the
>>>>> many hard drives killed by heat in two generations of Dell
>>>>> ‘business’ systems. After accounting saw just how many dead drives
>>>>> we’d accumulated, Dell was off the approved purchasing lisy, thank
>>>>> you, Jesus. Those who had to deal with Optiplex towers and
>>>>> minitowers a decade ago will know exactly what I’m talking about.
>>>>>
>>>>> Certain members of my family have looked at the nice low price and
>>>>> bought Dells, against my advice; only one is still operational, a
>>>>> laptop purchased in 2018 and whose battery is at 81% of design
>>>>> capacity, and whose hard drive was replaced by a SSD. And, yes,
>>>>> the dead drive died due to heat. Dell kills drives by overheating
>>>>> them, laptop, desktop, whatever.
>>>>>
>>>>> I hate Dell.
>>>> I know this is a "I hate Dell" thread, but my personal/primary
>>>> laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15R SE 7520, bought in early 2013. I've
>>>> had absolutely no issues with it and would gladly buy another Dell
>>>> laptop. I've never used a Dell desktop, so I don't know about that.
>>>>
>>>> My other laptop is an HP dv7-6185, bought in mid-2009. On that one,
>>>> the speakers and the WiFi module died a couple years ago. Since
>>>> then, we use external speakers, which is fine because the laptop
>>>> rarely moves, and a USB WiFi dongle. The WiFi dongle is an upgrade,
>>>> since it covers both the 2.4 and the 5GHz bands, whereas the
>>>> internal WiFi only covered 2.4GHz.
>>> I've had a few Dell laptops and I drove one in the ground it lasted
>>> so long, and the 2nd one died when I poured a drink into the keyboard
>>> & fried the MB.
>>>
>>> The current Dell I'm on is about 18mo old and runs like a champ.
>>> Running Linux & Windows 10.
>>>
>>
>> I have a Dell Optiplex 7050 16 GB of RAM and a Samsung SSD. I think
>> it's the best computer I have ever had. I don't see how over heating
>> could ever be a problem, and the UEFI settings are very easy to navigate
>> compared to the HP UEFI settings. Of course I'm using Linux Mint.
>>
> Ditto, my XPS 8900 has been rock solid; although, I have experienced
> problems with their laptop keyboards in the past.

I have a Dell laptop in a closet somewhere, but I can't remember
anything about its keyboard.

However I hate the Dell desktop keyboards, not because of problems with
them, but because of their design. I don't know why Dell makes
non-standard keyboards.

--
Ken

Ken Blake <ken@invalidemail.com> wrote:

>However I hate the Dell desktop keyboards, not because of problems with
>them, but because of their design. I don't know why Dell makes
>non-standard keyboards.

That's a good example of why I prefer to self-assemble a computer, I
don't want to be handheld by an OEM, with their peripherals with the
corporate name all over the parts. Not to say that's the *only*
reason, by a long shot, but it illustrates the overall point.

--
Joel Crump

On 6/26/2021 2:37 PM, Joel wrote:
> Ken Blake <ken@invalidemail.com> wrote:
>
>>However I hate the Dell desktop keyboards, not because of problems with
>>them, but because of their design. I don't know why Dell makes
>>non-standard keyboards.
>
>
> That's a good example of why I prefer to self-assemble a computer, I
> don't want to be handheld by an OEM, with their peripherals with the
> corporate name all over the parts. Not to say that's the *only*
> reason, by a long shot, but it illustrates the overall point.

I used to self-assemble computer, but I no longer do, primarily for two
reasons:

1. At my age, I am now close to all thumbs.

2. If something doesn't work, I want somebody else to troubleshoot it.

But I don't buy brand-name computers. I pick the components and have
somebody else assemble them.

--
Ken

On Jun 26, 2021 at 2:55:35 PM MST, "Ken Blake" wrote
<ijpm2oF33f2U1@mid.individual.net>:

> On 6/26/2021 2:37 PM, Joel wrote:
>> Ken Blake <ken@invalidemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> However I hate the Dell desktop keyboards, not because of problems with
>>> them, but because of their design. I don't know why Dell makes
>>> non-standard keyboards.
>>
>>
>> That's a good example of why I prefer to self-assemble a computer, I
>> don't want to be handheld by an OEM, with their peripherals with the
>> corporate name all over the parts. Not to say that's the *only*
>> reason, by a long shot, but it illustrates the overall point.
>
>
>
> I used to self-assemble computer, but I no longer do, primarily for two
> reasons:
>
> 1. At my age, I am now close to all thumbs.
>
> 2. If something doesn't work, I want somebody else to troubleshoot it.
>
> But I don't buy brand-name computers. I pick the components and have
> somebody else assemble them.

Where I like getting mine from an OEM. A bit more expensive but if something
goes wrong I have a single contact. Also tied to how I tend to like macOS, so
there is not much choice in doing a home build. With their new chips the idea
of a Hackintosh is even less likely.

--
Personal attacks from those who troll show their own insecurity. They cannot use reason to show the message to be wrong so they try to feel somehow superior by attacking the messenger.

They cling to their attacks and ignore the message time and time again.