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blog.opendns.com — Google and dell installing spyware?

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blackoutjr 360 days ago, made popular 359 days ago

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Conwaysb0718, on 10/11/2007, -22/+272Say it aint so google, say it aint so!
- Pluckie, on 10/11/2007, -15/+58With all its information, google as so much potential to do harm. Lets hope they really think through how to use, and more importantly protect, all their data.
- AllinM, on 10/11/2007, -31/+17Google will have the absolute power
- PsychoticClown, on 10/11/2007, -37/+168I wouldn't put it past Dell. It's a ***** company in every way. But Google? WHY GOOGLE WHY?!!
- NetJoe, on 10/11/2007, -29/+16They're accusing dell and google of doing exactly what opendns does, the source is not credible. The job of a nameserver is to resolve names to numbers for the domains they're responsible for period. OpenDNS changes that behavior and sends you to where they think you want to go, the opportunity for abuse is difficult to overstate.
- foobar5892, on 10/11/2007, -30/+15Free serving of anal rape courtesy of the friendly folks at Dell and Google.
- Rhino2, on 10/11/2007, -25/+11What a bunch of evil doers... but luckily this only effects Dell computers. Stupid bastards.
- AKBryant54, on 10/11/2007, -17/+243Whatever happened to "Don't be evil"?
- afx1, on 10/11/2007, -12/+63No problem, just one more thing to uninstall on my clients' computers. I usually leave whatever Google software is already on there, but this just blows.
- Rhino2, on 10/11/2007, -57/+5@ afx1
  
  You can't uninstall that! That's the point! It's spyware, they hides from your uninstaller program. To uninstall it would break the whole internets on that computer!
- fuzzfuzz, on 10/11/2007, -15/+24@Rhino2: Read the ^&@#$ article before replying something like that. You can remove it - the only thing making it difficult is the strange name.
- Septimus, on 10/11/2007, -37/+172Why is anyone surprised? Google are no better than any other company, they are in it for the money.
  
  Stop brown-nosing this f**king company.
- hngrval, on 10/11/2007, -23/+7Why is this so bad? Most dns error pages are completely useless (at least the stock pages that come with IE). How can a page that shows you decent recommendations (both paid and organic) be bad? It doesn't slow down your system, collect personal information, or keep you from uninstalling it.
  
  Before completely bashing this product and calling it spyware, why not give it a shot? 9 times out of 10 it takes you to the right place.
- Robotsu, on 10/11/2007, -15/+9I love it. The same people who blindly evangelize now appear shocked and horrified. Oh how the media and populous love to flip on a dime. Get over yourselves. It is and always has been a company in the business of making money. Not a big deal. Go home.
- saranagati, on 10/11/2007, -13/+1ok, i didn't read the whole article due to the fact the author said he'd explain at the bottom but i'm burying this as inaccurate. This sounds almost exactly like what verisign did a couple years ago and sent everyone in an uproar and were forced to remove the redirections. There's no way any large company would attempt this again especially one as people conscious as google.
- salmonmoose, on 10/11/2007, -23/+36I'd suggest it's very similar to the one Firefox starts with.
  
  I'd also suggest that Google had little to nothing to do with the creation, dell asked for a landing page, and Google provided one.
  
  Knowing their past history, I think we'll see Google give Dell a swift wrap on the knuckles.
  
  Dell computers are crappy anyway, I really don't understand why people want to buy them.
- folletto, on 10/11/2007, -17/+15From my point of view, the first thought - without any other evidence - is that Dell is doing this, using Google as the default search engine with ads added.
  
  I can't see how Google could be cited in this spyware issue: am I missing something in the article, or nowhere it says that it's a Google software? It explicitly says that "Uninstalling the Google Toolbar doesn't solve the issue".
  
  Now, this doesn't mean that Google couldn't be involved: it just means that Google DOESN'T SEEM involved, it just gives Dell the search engine page.
  
  Now, if someone could give some other evidence, so we could see if it's a Google issue as well... without that, saying that Google is 'doing spyware' it's just marketing.
  
  Someone could tell WHO makes the "Browser Address Error Redirector" software? Dell? Google? Third party?
- EbilPhish, on 10/11/2007, -19/+64This just seems like a deliberate attack at Google from the OpenDNS people.
  
  OpenDNS despite its name, has very little to do with opensource etc... It makes money by redirecting urls that haven't been found to a site with a list of advertising and in response offers phishing protection (which as it happens Google offer) and domain name spell checking in exchange (which lots of people use google for), and claim being 'stabler' and 'faster'. I don't misspell domains often and if I did I would want to know, and if I try to resolve something that doesn't exist I want an error message not advertising. Would be very annoying for testing network stuff out, I already have problems with my ISP using a transparent proxy causing every ip address to think its running a server on port 80.
  
  I agree that the Google one looks like its much worse than to OpenDNS site but it looks like its more Dell's doing that Googles, the Google page actually gives you instructions on how to remove it, and OpenDNS seem to rag on the name quite a bit, when it seems like its fairly obvious that its the program screwing with search results.
  
  The simple answer is if you buy Dell, go Linux Dell (assuming they don't adware Linux) or wipe the system and reinstall from scratch (or both and save money assuming Linux is actually cheaper).
- salmonmoose, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7@folletto:
  
  In all fairness - the redirect is hosted, or at least directed through Google's domain.
  
  If you don't like what you're seeing - report it to Google, they depend on Adsense/Adwords not being hated by the community, and they'd quickly put a stop to it.
- cleverboy, on 10/11/2007, -8/+45Yeah, this is more than a bit disingenuous.
  
  FIRST and FOREMOST, "Google" is being used to "sell" the story, but in reality, this is mostly about DELL. If it wasn't Google, I guarantee you it'd be Microsoft Live or Yahoo. Google is a "plug-in" solution for Dell. Moreover, OpenDNS also uses Google for their typo "engine" and sell ads on its own results pages. Furthermore, when my mother bought Verizon DNS, they installed stuff like this too. It's pretty standard now that companies are fighting over your error pages, and its not always a "spyware" scenario.
  
  It's ONE thing if you install software and it doesn't tell you what its doing. It's something else entirely if your computer comes pre-installed with Dell's custom homepage and error pages, and moderates your non-individually identifiable interactions. I doubt they even asked Google wether the data from searches are being matched up to the Dell user.
  
  OpenDNS does much the same type of stuff. I mean, just read the FAQ:
  http://www.opendns.com/faq/#do_you_wildcard_domains
  
  I was thinking from the description, they'd say, "but this is how we're different". No such luck. All they say is that they feel they're more clearly presenting what they're doing to potential customers, while making broad smoke screens about funnelling results, etc, etc. They should be ashamed to write articles like that in an attempt to attract attention to their own services.
  
  No digg.
- j4200, on 10/11/2007, -15/+70The guy lost all his credit when I read this paragraph.
  
  "Wow. Are you kidding me? In order for a user to get rid of this brokenness the person has to remove a piece of software called “Browser Address Error Redirector?” That barely makes sense to techies and it makes no sense to normal people. Would your Mom uninstall something with a name like that? I don’t think so."
  
  This brokenness? What might that be, openDNS not working? Could that be because both pieces of software are trying to do the same thing? Also if a so called 'techy' can't figure out what a piece of software, that is explained completely in the name, is doing then he should probably find a new career. The fact that having to uninstall it as you would any other peice of legit software is very difficult for him to comprehend tells me alot about his technical prowess.
- folletto, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8@salmonmoose
  
  Sure, the landing page is hosted: that's how those kind of custom pages works. Like Firefox, Google Coop and such. But that isn't the problem, since every preconfigurated PC in this world has a custom page going somewhere.
  
  The problem is that the request is 'forced' to that page... that's not good. :|
- salmonmoose, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8@folletto:
  
  Oh I don't think the hosting is a sign of guilt, but I can see how it's easy to believe Google is behind this as it's on their domain (such is the burden of letting people use it). If you find my other comments I've mentioned that I think this is a service Dell bought off Google that they're abusing.
  
  What I'd really like to know is who the publisher of the redirect software is?
- j4200, on 10/11/2007, -8/+4@folleto : openDNS, the perpetrators of the article, do the same thing. Also considering Dell's userbase, the type of people that would type search queries into the address bar, this is an obvious feature to package with their machines.
- folletto, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1@salmonmoose
  
  I know that... but from the OpenDNS folks such an error shouldn't be done. Without any other evidence, I think that they did just marketing.
  With any evidence, still the title is misleading, since it doesn't cite 'Dell'. :/
  
  > What I'd really like to know is who the publisher of the redirect software is?
  
  Me too. :)
  
  I hope that someone could find this kind of information. I'm not going to buy a Dell just for this! :D
- FuzzyCat, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6@folletto
  
  "I can't see how Google could be cited in this spyware issue: am I missing something in the article, or nowhere it says that it's a Google software?"
  
  how about the fact that it used to be called GoogleAFE, which is a Google product?
- FuzzyCat, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5
  .. sorry missed the timeout..
  
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareGoogleAFE]
  "AfeUrl"="http://www.google.com/hws/dell/afe?hl=en&s="
- folletto, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4@fuzzycat
  
  Thanks for the reply.
  That was exactly what I was asking for. That helps to clear things up a bit. :)
  
  Regardig GoogleAFE:
  http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=368054
  
  But why OpenDNS didn't say that? :/
- dixta, on 10/11/2007, -8/+2Bollocks. Anyone who's unable to remove a program blatantly pointed out to them shouldn't be using a computer.
  
  Buried for inaccuracy.... the article states that "users can't get rid of it!!!! OH NOES ITS EVIL". If I didn't know better, I'd swear the article was written by some GOP PR gimp.
  
  Secondary to that, I seriously doubt the article's objectivity, given that its written/hosted by OpenDNS who scream "but we can do it better!!!"
  
  Thirdly, as someone in the comments on the article point out, where's the proof that Google directly has something to do with it? I'd say it's more a Dell stunt to get more money out their deal with Google than anything else. Google doesn't need to pull a cheap stunt like that.
- cyph3rzer0, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8@fuzzycat
  
  Just because it has "Google" in the name of the application (as in GoogleAFE), doesn't necessarily mean that Google is the owner of it. If you notice on the link you provided, the page is copyright Dell. Maybe Dell had Google create the software, but Dell is the one that is installing it on all the systems...
- hackmyballs, on 10/11/2007, -8/+1M$ propaganda in full swing today
- Odweaver, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5How many times do I have to say this, when you buy a dell, reformat and reinstall the OS. The spyware found was probably paid for by a third party who thought hiding it with the google software would give credibility.
- trashcat, on 10/11/2007, -3/+0Some of you may find scroogle (an anonymous google scraper) useful:
  http://www.scroogle.org/
- sexybobo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5@salmonmoose (#6826721)
  That is what i was thinking. this is exactly what firefox has by default. and it is not spyware. it is just using your address box as a search box. i have no idea what every one is so upset about. #1 this is not bad functionality it is one of the reasons i like firefox. if i start typing a domain name in then realize i dont know it i can just hit enter and it comes up with a search page instead of an error page.
- broeks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Dude, Google knows you got a dell
- rderveloy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm not bothered by this. I usually format any new computer I get and only install vendor apps of my choosing. With all the 3rd party junk apps installed by hardware vendors these days, I'm rather surprised that this isn't standard practice.
- resplence, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3"The screenshot below shows what the Dell-branded Google search results page looks like when you make a typo in your address bar. You can’t even see the search results in the picture" http://www.opendns.com/img/dell-digg-xom-800x600.png
  
  And people wanted to convince me that the "sponsored links" are not ads, but search results. Please. I know you love Google but wake up. I don't care how you justify this, SPONSORED LINKS ARE ADS, thus breaking their promise "not to sell search results to anyone", in their "don't be evil" philosophy.
- usernameistaken, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4@akbryant54
  Now it's "Don't, Be Evil"
- dani8559, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I just set up three new dells in my office that were ordered last week. I always uninstall google desktop and google toolbar because IE7/FF have search built in and having GD cache things isn't good for the secure content we deal with in our office.
  
  However, I have to say that I have no idea what kind of software they're talking about with OpenDNS. I thought, at least with IE7, that this is linked to what your default search engine is. For instance, if you have MSN as your default search engine, then when you make a typo or type a keyword in your address bar, you get msn-branded search pages.
  
  It's nothing new that Dell-branded google is the default home page and search engine on new systems. I went in and changed these back to normal google and I got none of this nonsense, just my expected behavior. I don't think this is very evil.
- corsairstw, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1@septimus
  
  Yeah, but not every company's informal motto is "Don't be evil." Google has responsibility and a reputation to uphold.
- Rukaribe, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Google has gone way down the evil path lately. I like Microsoft more and more everyday, they are used to being "evil", they can handle the pressure.
- superpotential, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2dude, when one gets a new pc, the first thing they should do is reformat and reinstall it.
  
  old grandma and average joe are no exception. i mean, if they can learn how to paint a wall or redo the lawn, they should also be able to learn how to redo the computer software.
- hoboshaveknives, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0@dani8559:
  No, IE7 still has it's default "This page cannot be found message" for domain typos. I alternate between Google and Live and neither interfere with that page. The version of Firefox I have does that too.
  
  @ superpotential:
  You'd get the Dell Recovery CD with it, and all that would do is reinstall it all. Average joe doesn't have access to a non-Dell OEM Windows version the second they buy a new computer.
- addictedidol, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3WHO THE ***** RUNS THEIR SCREEN AT 800x600 in 2007. I don't think that Dell even sell monitors with a native resolution of 800x600. This article is complete propaganda.
doxx, on 10/11/2007, -9/+38One day we may wake up with a plug in the back our heads connected to the google-borg and we can only think of search results with a sad distant memory of a freaky data center with an operating room.. ahhhhhhhhh
- foobar5892, on 10/11/2007, -12/+3There will be no "ahhhhhhhhh" because you'll be sent pleasure signals at the thought of anything that would be indesirable.
holyskeleton, on 10/11/2007, -12/+2it is time to welcome our new Google overlord... hey its better than a google overlords.
syafthegeek, on 10/11/2007, -12/+4This will hurt Dell users and make computing much like a pain in the ass right out of the box. Google is everywhere. Just like Wikipedia, try search for something and Wikipedia will come up on the 1st page of the search results.
- violentvinyl, on 10/11/2007, -1/+20That's OK until Wikipedia is bad. I can't recall a single search result I've ever had where I said "Wow, I really wish there WASN'T a Wikipedia entry for this".
- SteveMax, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2violentvinyl, try "Cold Fusion" (if it is still vandalized by all those pseudo-scientific crap)
gagan97, on 10/11/2007, -12/+1something that goes to TOP comes DOWN...

they are putting their foot on AXE ... believe me it wont hurt.. :D
bluechips23, on 10/11/2007, -16/+50This is MADNESS!
- Rhino2, on 10/11/2007, -22/+12This is Delllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!
- nullx42, on 10/11/2007, -16/+3*frrreeeeeeeee faaaaalleeeennn*
  oh *****, digg me down :/
- pixelate, on 10/11/2007, -3/+45tonight we dine in Dell?
  
  OK, yay, I killed it.
- DeathfireD, on 10/11/2007, -14/+5THIS IS CAKE TOWN!!
- SocialPoison, on 10/11/2007, -10/+1(Oops)
- SocialPoison, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1(oops again... the hell's up with digg's commenting...?)
- naio, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2This is Sparta? *shrinks in the corner*
stephenwq, on 10/11/2007, -7/+15"You can’t even see the search results in the picture (800×600 resolution) because the entire top of the page and right side are plastered with ads."
I've never bought a dell before, please tell me that they aren't stock 800x600? Or have they changed this just to make it seem worse?
- Rhino2, on 10/11/2007, -8/+31Dells are configured like ***** from the get go.
  First thing to do when you get a dell: Wipe it clean and reinstall.
- anachronaut, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9What Rhino2 said. That should be SOP for any preloaded Windows-based stock computer purchase IMO, unless you're so clueless that it won't make a difference one way or another.
- SkippyDoorknob, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5No, they're not 800x600
Stonedonkey, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2I thought this was about a bad cover of that Bob Seger song. As if you could beat Metallica on that score.
- NoNameHere, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2You can do something other than shameless self-commercialization and NOT do it better than Metallica? That's news to me....
PradaPete, on 10/11/2007, -14/+11time to abandon The Google. Now, before it's too late...
formergthing, on 10/11/2007, -7/+13I saw the "opendns" URL and thought I was getting a bad page.

(If you use their servers for DNS, they redirect you to their page with search results for bad requests.)
Shaman760, on 10/11/2007, -15/+32Whatever happened to the mantra "Don't be evil"?
- gregharmon, on 10/11/2007, -13/+56It got replaced by "Make money".
- Urusai, on 10/11/2007, -9/+23That's a mantra of evil people, kind of like how "trust me" is the mantra of liars.
- SouLFacE, on 10/11/2007, -7/+3It's changed to: Do (No) Evil.
- lnxaddct, on 10/11/2007, -4/+85Well there are a few things that make this story appear worse than it is.
  
  1) There is no way to know how much of a role Google played in this, like was it a 50/50 split... or did Dell do most of this. Dell is afterall the one shipping the computers.
  
  2) The writer claims multiple times that it can't be easily be removed, but in 2 sentences he stated how it *can* be removed, and on the page that the user sees there are instructions for removal. Furthermore the uninstaller actually works. This isn't spyware, its just bundled software, and the price of the computer is reduced because of it.
  
  3) OpenDNS is affected by it, and OpenDNS is the one complaining about it. OpenDNS has a clear bias here, and are approaching the topic with a bias.
  
  I'm just saying... keep it in perspective.
- salmonmoose, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10Honestly, if this was Google's doing, why haven't they done this to those of us who are running the Non-Dell version of toolbar? This wreaks of Dell.
  
  OpenDNS is also claiming that it is beyond the capabilities of a normal user to uninstall software - however it is well within their ability to change their DNS setting.
  
  I really think this is a case of some ***** company self promoting themselves by claiming Google is doing something evil and underhanded.
ghostmac, on 10/11/2007, -11/+8This makes me leary of googles future. In fact, it is almost enough warning for me to consider stopping use of googles services altogether.
kspen, on 10/11/2007, -11/+3It simply could be Dell doing it--and they get paid per search from Google...I see nothing that says Google is complicit in this.
- cdmarcus, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Besides the fact that if you RTFA, you'll notice that the Dell search site is hosted on Google.com!
LADIESCREVICE, on 10/11/2007, -10/+12Preinstalled software is nothing new.
- NoNameHere, on 10/11/2007, -10/+15How about preinstalled malware, from a company which manages metric buttloads of highly personal data based entirely off of tremendous levels of consumer trust, in collaboration with a company that is notorious for being a corruption crapstorm?
- j4200, on 10/11/2007, -4/+16Yea but this isn't malware
shableep, on 10/11/2007, -6/+7crap... iGoogle, and now this? why, google, whyyy!? well, at least Microsoft has competition this time around.

i think it might be that google has just started obsessing over financial success, rather than being the pleasantly goofy and honorable innovators they presented themselves as for the past years. i think they're shedding that image now that they're powerfully established.

either way, my hope is that it is actually dell behind all of this like kspen said.... which wouldn't really be a huge surprise.
KnightMareInc, on 10/11/2007, -4/+43thats because opendns wants you to use their ads instead
- ilgaz, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3OpenDNS is completely opt in service which does provide basically a Web 2.0 like DNS. There is no way they install software. Soon or later, they will start to make service more Web 2 like. E.g. gogle.com will resolve to google.com because 20 million people reported it as cybersquatting. Just a guess watching the evoluation of site/service.
  
  There is no PC/Mac coming with OpenDNS "installed" since it is a basic DNS setting,nothing else. If you are on MY network and if you set your DNS to DHCP provided: You will use OpenDNS. Sorry, it is my network and my choice of security. You won't likely hit by phishing dedicated sites, typo squatting as a bonus.
  
  Near 200 BILLION DNS requests served freely. Someone should pay the bills eh? Lot better than going to some cybersquatter and login with your account details. That is what that pre installed toolbar potentially does as side effect or on purpose.
ipodman715, on 10/11/2007, -12/+3This is why you use Firefox.
- iAlex, on 10/11/2007, -3/+25Google and Firefox have a very tight relationship. Firefox users seem to ignore it.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox#Relationship_with_Google
  
  "The release of the anti-phishing protection in Firefox 2 especially raised controversy.Enabled by default, anti-phishing protection is based on a list that is regularly (approximately each half hour) updated and downloaded to the user's computer from Google's server (the user cannot change the data provider within the GUI nor is informed who the default data provider is). Browser also sends Google's cookie with each request for update. The "advanced" security feature of builds by the Mozilla Foundation activate an anti-phishing feature to provide live protection and, according to the Mozilla Wiki, send each visited URL to Google(the user must explicitly opt-in for it). Barring Internet privacy issues over such anti-phishing protection, there are concerns on how Google may use the data, even though Firefox's privacy policy states that Google may not use personal information for any purposes other than the anti-phishing protection feature."
- j4200, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4This is only in firefox with googletoolbar
- minigamer1896, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3@ j4200
  
  Actually, no. It's pre-integrated into the base 2.x.x version and last I checked, the 3.x alpha has it also integrated.
  
  'Tis the same wit MSIE7, only their anti-phishing is server-side (on or off, and no local copy available) and is actively monitored by MS and as such, is sllloooowwwwer than s*** on a cold day at times (really bothersome when I need to wait 3-10 sec longer on DSL for the load on the MS servers to lessen).
  
  (> I'm NOT promoting Opera, am just pointing out a browser fact so as to give balance to FF & MSIE!
- minigamer1896, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3-_- Digg has a few problems....
  
  Ok, continuation of the above statement...
  
  In Opera 9.2x, the anti-phishing/fraud (server-side w/updating client-side whitelist) is off by default if I remember correctly. The downside is when it's running, the 56k user's connection slows down more than FF or MSIE7, but in my own experience, it's faster than MSIE7 when on DSL+.
LADIESCREVICE, on 10/11/2007, -9/+44Why does this matter? I didn't want free trials of Norton, AOL, or any other ***** on my computer. This is no different than MSN being a default homepage. Nobody gets hurt with this.
- Qchan, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5"Why does this matter? I didn't want free trials of Norton, AOL, or any other ***** on my computer. This is no different than MSN being a default homepage. Nobody gets hurt with this."
  
  I have to agree with this as well. This isn't as intrusive as some of the other 3rd party programs pre-installed on one's system. I'm not saying that this isn't bad, but it's not any worse than the half installed McAfee crap that sends data about your system to whoever, or Norton that claims to be running on your system but doesn't detect anything. If anything, we should be upset with all that bloat that clogs up our system memory and hard drive space. It takes much wasted time to get rid of all that crap. A lot of that time we will never get back. God forbid you have to do a destructive restore. Then you have to uninstall all that crap all over again.
- etnu, on 10/11/2007, -8/+7It's bad for the same reason that people complain about Republicans going to prostitutes.
  
  It's hypocritical. Doing stuff like this puts Google squarely in the same pot of "evil" as Microsoft.
- aaronm67, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2@etnu
  
  I don't really get your analogy. Why is Republicans going to prostitutes hypocritical?
dwxpub, on 10/11/2007, -8/+35Google is telling you what they were doing, and how to stop it. Never met spyware that did that.

I'd be more impressed if the article didn't have the edge of hysteria in it, and didn't spend the second half of the article shilling their product. Though I love this line: "Users never asked for this experience and they can’t get rid of it!". Users didn't ask for half of what they get when going with Dell/MS, and they can get rid of it. Sheesh.
- nealparr, on 10/11/2007, -4/+12I also love how they keep saying that you can't remove it, right after posting Google's exact instructions for removing it. Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Program Name. Done deal.
- dalewj, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2Well I dont have it there, i dont have it in manage add-ons, I cant remove it. so yes it says how, but yes, like many other people, It cant be removed. That would aim it towards spyware.
- dingleberry, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5@dalewj
  
  Do you are saying you have this program on your machine right now and it does not show up in your add/remove list? I call shens.
- ilgaz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Very funny since every spyware vendor on planet claimed their software is easy to uninstall as 1-2-3 but it never worked right. Especially some (on purpose) Typos, stupid coding made uninstaller fail somehow.
fiveoaks, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3It could be said that if you buy a Dell this is what you deserve.
iAlex, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1Would not be suprised if Google is giving out its database to the government(s). The government and Google can lie about it, so it looks like Google is not willing to give it, and the government wants it, but in the end, they have a deal, so Google is giving it anyway (but of course they won't say it).

Mac users: Use http://www.pozytron.com/acidsearch to use another search engine in Safari, such as Yahoo or whatever you like.
Mizuno, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1I always thought that Google is evil
drjekelmrhyde, on 10/11/2007, -6/+4Something Anti-Google made it to the front page ?! Wait What? but most companines do this now it's no different than ATT shoving Yahoo down your throat with their DSL
TexanPsycho, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1And I just got a new Dell product this morning. I suppose it's lucky that it's a screen.
dmyers5, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3I got a screaming new Gateway system at work that was loaded with crapware. While I was able to remove most of it, I've been stuck with this exact browser error redirect page, but with Gateway branding instead of Dell. Thanks to this article, I'm now able to properly identify the app I need to uninstall.
nealparr, on 10/11/2007, -6/+3Wait. Google was good. Goo-d. Now Google is bad. Ba-gle. For some reason I'm hungry now.
InstantRamen, on 10/11/2007, -6/+3Do i smell another digg revolt ? still this is a dumb move for google. they are doing good, really good. dont mess it up
tyler0is0sexy, on 10/11/2007, -10/+7Christ, stop bitching everyone!
All you have to do is delete a program from Add or Remove Programs....
- Rhino2, on 10/11/2007, -9/+5You can't delete it! That's the point! It hides from all your uninstaller programs. If you delete it, it breaks the entire internets for that comptuer!
- Margh, on 10/11/2007, -8/+8What's that? The article says removing it does nothing and it's actually a very difficult thing to remove?
  Good thing you read the article before commenting.
- michaelzhao, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@Margh
  
  "What's that? The article says removing it does nothing and it's actually a very difficult thing to remove?
  Good thing you read the article before commenting."
  
  Whats that? You didn't read the article either? Well let me fill you in....
  
  "Wow. Are you kidding me? In order for a user to get rid of this brokenness the person has to remove a piece of software called “Browser Address Error Redirector?” That barely makes sense to techies and it makes no sense to normal people. Would your Mom uninstall something with a name like that? I don’t think so."
  
  Hmm... seems like all you do is go to Add/Remove Programs to remove a program that is completely self-explanatory in its name. This article was written toward a bias against Google. Take it with a grain of salt... Good thing you read the article before commenting...
Ratatosk, on 10/11/2007, -2/+23I wouldn't call this spyware? What's spyware about it
- dulymachine, on 10/11/2007, -6/+17You're right, this is (at worst) adware
- multitude, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I think that this could be spyware because loading the page likely sends a unique identifier (usually in a cookie) that your browser has picked up back to the google servers. Technically this can be used to "track" you around the Internet. The google partnership with doubleclick will vastly expand the Internet terrain over which these companies can follow your web clicks. I don't think you understand how the web works if you question how this could be spyware. Most times you're fed ads, you're also being tracked to some extent.
ymcop, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1Hell Dell! Heyyyyy Gellgle!
unitedkronos, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3The comment by Swoop brings up the few points needed to prove this article wrong. Sure, preinstalled Dell systems are worse then crap at best, but that's what reinstalling was made for in the first place, getting rid of anything that's wrong with a system and starting from scratch. :)
DavidDigg, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7From the geniuses who brought us "don't be evil."
TheHorror545, on 10/11/2007, -8/+9I started telling people Google was evil from the day they announced Gmail. There is a reason for that: Google is a corporation. They are legally bound to do whatever it takes to increase their stock value.
- salmonmoose, on 10/11/2007, -5/+8You're a moron - sorry to single you out, but this isn't the first time I've seen someone come out with this gem.
  
  No corporation is 'legally bound to do whatever it takes to make a profit'. It is in the best interests for "For-Profit" corporations to do so, or their shareholders might bail on them.
  
  Corporations are formed to provide legal protection to those behind them - the Mozilla Corporation is an example of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Corporation
  
  They are legally bound to be honest in their reporting of profits and losses. Which is where you're likely confused, as most cases against corporations occur when they make a loss, but hide it (or, don't know about it).
- TheHorror545, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4
  My apologies salmonmoose. Your comment says what I was trying to say better:
  "It is in the best interests for "For-Profit" corporations to do so , or their shareholders might bail on them."
  
  Bad use of the term legally on my part. I should have taken the time to say: shareholders elect the board of directors and shareholders want a board that will increase company stock value. Thus the board will do anything they can to increase company value. Doing so is implicit in their job contracts, and those are usually legally binding... Any perceived goodwill put across by any company is just publicity, pure and simple.
spoonard, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2I always kinda thought Google was a little TOO goody-goody.
sweetloli12, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2Google can suck my lollipop.
kingygk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4The first thing id do is format the drive and reinstall the os on a new dell. This is why you want to pay the extra fee to get the install disks from dell. I hate the damm google toolbar. Google stop bugging the crap out of us!
- jawbreaker4fs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Agreed. This is my standard practice when purchasing any new PC... although the OS installed usually happens to be Ubuntu. My most recent laptop only ran Windows once, and it was by mistake.
johnsee, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Like it or hate it... they stand to make a fortune from these users clicking on the ads.
Robotsu, on 10/11/2007, -3/+17Who the ***** installs a useless Google toolbar??
davidrools, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10More reason to order your next Dell with Linux?
- Coronaboy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Hell yes!
- ilgaz, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Why you people are obsessed with Dell? Just because it comes with Linux, it doesn't change they install a middle-man program (trying hard not to call spyware) when you pay extra $$$ for Windows one.
  
  Find another brand, get rid of this Dell obsession.
scisam, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7Doesn't it need to be spying on you to be spyware?
- Flankk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It does. He started by saying Google toolbar is installed, which reports all sites you visit back to Google.
dshah, on 10/11/2007, -5/+0No doubt this is unethical practice by google+dell. But what is OpenDNS doing?
derekstech, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2dell loves some spyware
liv3fr33ordi3, on 10/11/2007, -3/+0Just like Mark Foley.
bperin, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10I don't think anyone in our circle should be amazed by this. Google used to be cool, but like most companies do when they go public they become guided by income statements and investors who are trying to maximize their profit. Is it bad? Depends on how you look at it. Google is going to hit their peak in the next year or so IMO just like any product and it will be down hill from there. Someone will release the next google killer pretty soon, will it be one of you? Don't forget that its people like Digg users who will dictate the next big tech site.
- salmonmoose, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2Google /SEARCH/ may be reaching it's peak - but they're ahead of the game and building other services that are taking off;
  
  Most of my email contacts are now gmail, My old ICQ list is empty, and my MSN one is fading fast, whereas my Gtalk list is growing by leaps and bounds.
  
  Google Apps has saved my company thousands. No-one could figure out Open Office, but everyone was immediately happy with Apps (and we're now subscribed).
  
  Not to mention the hugely attractive Analytics/Adwords/Adsense package.
  
  All these services play off one another - which is why many people love Apple, but Google do it without charging the earth.
- Rhino2, on 10/11/2007, -5/+2""Google /SEARCH/ may be reaching it's peak - but they're ahead of the game and building other services that are taking off;""
  
  uh... how you figure? Both Yahoo and MSFT (especially MSFT) threw tons of money at developing a "better google" - look at Yahoo maps or whatever crap Microsoft has now (LIVE!). Two MAJOR internet players (plus dozens of others) went up to teh google and didn't even DENT them. Google is still on top, they still have the best search engine and for some time to come. (Face it, MSFT is a tough business enemy to have and they couldn't even dent google's armor when it comes to search)
  
  ""Most of my email contacts are now gmail, My old ICQ list is empty, and my MSN one is fading fast, whereas my Gtalk list is growing by leaps and bounds.""
  
  my gmail is empty... the ones that are on there are nerds/geeks. Most girls still use MSN or Yahoo. Google hasn't won the IM Market yet. If google focused there IM on the Myspace and tailored it for the Ladies then they would take over quick. ... but when it comes to IM software, the company that has the girls has the market.
  
  ""Google Apps has saved my company thousands. No-one could figure out Open Office, but everyone was immediately happy with Apps (and we're now subscribed).""
  
  uh... so your company stores all it's documents on the interents? yea... good luck with that.
  
  ""Not to mention the hugely attractive Analytics/Adwords/Adsense package.""
  
  Yes. Adwords/Adsense does very well... biggest ad player, google has a gold mine there.
  
  ""All these services play off one another - which is why many people love Apple, but Google do it without charging the earth.""
  
  um. ok.
- paulmdx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4"Google Apps has saved my company thousands. No-one could figure out Open Office, but everyone was immediately happy with Apps (and we're now subscribed)."
  
  As Rhino said: good luck with that. I think you'll find you're in the minority with that decision, and for good reason.
decades, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Well, practises such as this aren't ever likely to go away considering Dell, and to an extent Google, are out solely to generate as much revenue as possible. But if people FORMATTED THEIR DELL the moment they got it, it wouldn't be a problem. After all, Dell hardware is great; even better after a format =)
grimfandango, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2how is this software hard to get rid of? add/remove programs, click uninstall. burried as inaccute - not a credible source.
- doshindude, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2that does not correct the problem. not only do you need to clean out registry entries, there's ALWAYS lingering hidden files, plus not to mention random errors when uninstalling. I'm afraid that doesn't work.
dshah, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3OpenDNS doesn't have any noble practices either. The whole idea behind openDNS is based on injecting fear (which is not there for most of it) for people to use their service so that they can show ads (google ads again).

I guess OpenDNS is not happy with Dell+Google pact because that causes problems for OpenDNS to show their own ads- sour grapes huh!

Not credible source at all!

By the way - I use Dell Laptop and was able to remove this it without any trouble at all.
- salmonmoose, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Out of interest, did you catch who the publisher for the application was?
- Rhino2, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1
  How did you remove it? They said it would try and hide from your uninstaller!
  
  did it break your internets?
CharonIDRONES, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2Are you kidding me?
Look at what he is whining about. He wrote all this since he believes that a user cannot go to Add/Remove Programs and press 'Remove' on Browser Address Error Redirector. I'm sorry, but this is way overblown. And this is coming from someone who used to work for Dell.

If you believe the average user cannot follow instructions laid out plainly in front of them as the author of this article stated that they are, then you are most likely mistaken and should not think so lowly of your fellow man. From Dell's company perspective, of course this is great, it provides them with a good source of revenue. From Google's perspective, of course this is also great, it also provides them with another good source of revenue, and more information about users. That is how Dell can stay afloat, is by these partnerships, this is hardly the worst that ships with them in anyway. And in now way did Google make it overtly complicated to remove the software, the author even states that they tell you how to take it off!

This is utter ***** and the whining of someone who just wants to deface a company's image. I'm sorry that a publicly traded company is doing what a publicly traded company does . . . Making money? At least they are being honest, and actually are showing you how to remove it. And if you weren't aware, almost ALL of Google is based around a sort of 'spyware' mentality, just they are the good guys :)
crash128, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4This is nothin'. To me the big headline is from drudge: "Google Gods: Want More Personal Data." When I read that, I knew I'd never use a google inet s/w product (such as a wp or spreadsheet). ***** that *****.
- j4200, on 10/11/2007, -5/+3HAHA a single headline made you decide to boycott something. Good call at being critical of your environment. Ever thought that perhaps headline writers have alterial motive?
- crash128, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1@j4200: Dear stupid moron - I read the ***** article. They want my personal data to tailor searches. I don't want to do this. Go back to sleep. Also, learn to spell. Also, learn english. Note - there are many english as second language (esl) programs here in the U.S. Find one.
dshah, on 10/11/2007, -5/+0Nice foot in mouth by OpenDNS

http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Open_DNS_puts_Foot_In_Mouth
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