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catseyenu
Ack Pfft
Premium Member
join:2001-11-17
Fix East

catseyenu

Premium Member

"webcybercoach" Cleaning Dell Installed OS

I'm cleaning up a new Dell of the preinstalled spy/bloat/trialware that comes with the XP Home OS and ran into a new one I'm unfamiliar with.
In "Add/Remove" it's listed as "webcybercoach 3.2 Dell".
A search (here, Google and the Dell forum) turns up little to nothing on this program.
Anyone have a clue as to what it is?

Rxdoxx

join:2000-11-03
Middle River, MD

1 recommendation

Rxdoxx

Cybercoach is a referring web site that has a relationship with Dell, so maybe it is related to that, That would be my guess, Dell gets some $$benefit$$ by stuffing it on people's systems. But I'm guessing.

BTW- I found a program (a little pricey) that backs up and restores drivers. »www.zhangduo.com/driverb ··· kup.html
"My Drivers enables easy and fast detection, backup and restore of all hardware device drivers currently on your system. Also, you can even find the latest drivers for your hardware and install them onto your computer. With just one or two mouse button clicks, you will have all your hardware devices extracted and backed-up to any folder you want. When you reinstall or upgrade your system, you can restore all drivers by clicking a button. Once after a reboot, all the drivers will be re-installed and will function well. You may also choose to backup a particular driver or all the drivers with an EXE automatic installer. If you have a particular item of hardware that is troublesome, just remove the driver with this software. It is especially useful to those who have lost their Driver Disk or Driver CD. My Drivers is able to clone the original driver installation."

The disk that Dell included with my system had stuff buried, and it took a bunch of looking to find the drivers. I got a "Dell disk" with everything crammed on, not individual driver disks.
From the screenshot, you can see the benefit of being able to back up either all, or individual driver sets.
Just something to consider as you clean your Dell.

fegul
Premium Member
join:2004-08-23
united state

1 recommendation

fegul to catseyenu

Premium Member

to catseyenu
Please wipe all computers when you get them. I'm a Geeksquad agent so I deal with new PCs all the time, and they are so bogged down with crap they run as if they had spyware on them (which probably isnt far from the truth!) Seriously, reformat, install drivers, then use.

catseyenu
Ack Pfft
Premium Member
join:2001-11-17
Fix East

catseyenu

Premium Member

said by fegul:

Please wipe all computers when you get them. I'm a Geeksquad agent so I deal with new PCs all the time, and they are so bogged down with crap they run as if they had spyware on them (which probably isnt far from the truth!) Seriously, reformat, install drivers, then use.
Dell no longer gives out clean install disks.. and there's no doubt they need a good cleaning before they are usable.
»Re: Dell rejects spyware charge
catseyenu

catseyenu to Rxdoxx

Premium Member

to Rxdoxx
Thanks rxdoxx, I'm sure you're right on the pay to play arrangement.
Since he already has Ghost and no installation disk we'll probably image the drive when I'm through and use that for backup.
Shootist
Premium Member
join:2003-02-10
Decatur, GA

Shootist

Premium Member

There is a utility included to MAKE the OS disk from the restore partition. Look on the start menu for it. It's probably under Dell or Dell utilities on the start menu.

Doctor Four
My other vehicle is a TARDIS
Premium Member
join:2000-09-05
Dallas, TX

1 edit

Doctor Four to catseyenu

Premium Member

to catseyenu
It sounds an awful lot like what Bill Webb of Counterexploi-
tation calls Foistware. Someone is paying (Dell & webcyber-
coach in this case) a company to bundle their products with
their hardware or software for marketing purposes.

This is the biggest reason why I will never buy another OEM
PC again, preferring to build my own. That way I know what
is going on there, and don't have the system bogged down
with useless offers and other stuff I don't need (but which
the vendor thinks I need.)

catseyenu
Ack Pfft
Premium Member
join:2001-11-17
Fix East

catseyenu

Premium Member

I usually do, this was a rush job on a downed work box and Dell had a "good deal" on the hardware...
Maybe why it was loaded with the other goodies.

AMDUSER
Premium Member
join:2003-05-28
Earth,
ARRIS CM8200
ARRIS SB6183

4 recommendations

AMDUSER to Rxdoxx

Premium Member

to Rxdoxx
Click for full size
.
Otherwise WinDriversBackup 1.09 will allow you backup installed device drivers.

»pricelessware.org/thelis ··· /sys.htm

- First selection for this program. Download link on page with description.

This program is freeware, and works quite well to backup drivers.

Rxdoxx

join:2000-11-03
Middle River, MD

Rxdoxx

Nice, and to now find out that there was a freeware one

Oh well, there are some features on the other one, like finding updates, but I have d/l and bookmarked the site for WinDriversBackup, thanks, looks real useful for others.
Indy Sabre
Sabre Rider From Indianapolis
join:2003-10-02

Indy Sabre to AMDUSER

Member

to AMDUSER
said by AMDUSER:

Otherwise WinDriversBackup 1.09 will allow you backup installed device drivers.

»pricelessware.org/thelis ··· /sys.htm

- First selection for this program. Download link on page with description.

This program is freeware, and works quite well to backup drivers.
Thanks for posting this! I am trying it now and it seems like this will become one of my favorite new finds. This will greatly simplify doing a clean install on a PC.

fegul
Premium Member
join:2004-08-23
united state

fegul to catseyenu

Premium Member

to catseyenu
That program looks great too, thanks!

elias
Premium Member
join:2000-07-24
Miami, FL

elias to catseyenu

Premium Member

to catseyenu
You should try ordering them from Dell Small Business. Those come bare.

-- Elias

catseyenu
Ack Pfft
Premium Member
join:2001-11-17
Fix East

1 recommendation

catseyenu

Premium Member

It was ordered from Dell Small Business.

elias
Premium Member
join:2000-07-24
Miami, FL

elias

Premium Member

How strange. I just received two new machines, I'll check tomorrow when I open them.

-- Elias
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

1 recommendation

Mele20

Premium Member

The Small Business ones are infested now too. My 8300 didn't have spyware but I bought it from Small Business before Dell started putting MyWay and other spyware on all the boxes. It did come though with junk. It had a 30 day trial of PaintShop Pro and AOL 9.0 was installed! A bunch of promotional crap. I had expressly asked that AOL not be installed and that no AV be installed. I was informed that Dell could not sell me a computer, even from Small Business, that did not have AV installed. My choice was horrible since I already had a license for two different products and intended to remove Dell's AV install immediately. I could choose between McAfee or Norton...both very difficult to fully remove. I could not believe the number of applications Dell installed which immediately started phoning home.

elias
Premium Member
join:2000-07-24
Miami, FL

elias

Premium Member

Click for full size
They're either lying to you, or you're ordering from a different Dell Small Business than the one I order from.

Here's a screenshot of a machine I just pulled out of the box to configure.

iManage Desksite and RealVNC were installed by me, but not that there's no AV, or anything inappropriate.

-- Elias

catseyenu
Ack Pfft
Premium Member
join:2001-11-17
Fix East

1 edit

catseyenu

Premium Member

Click for full size
said by elias:

They're either lying to you, or you're ordering from a different Dell Small Business than the one I order from.
How do you mean "lying".
Here are the confirmation email and headers. (private information sanitized)
Return-Path:
Received: from mx12.lax.untd.com (mx12.lax.untd.com [10.130.24.72])
by maildeliver02.nyc.untd.com with SMTP id AABBP8EDSAKCGFHJ
for (sender );
Wed, 20 Jul 2005 20:03:12 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from ausa60pc101high.us.dell.com (ausa60pc101high.us.dell.com
[143.166.85.227])
by mx12.lax.untd.com with SMTP id AABBP8EDRAHHS4BA
for (sender );
Wed, 20 Jul 2005 20:03:11 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from dell.com (143.166.6.224)
by ausa60pc101high.us.dell.com with SMTP; 20 Jul 2005 22:03:11 -0500
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Dell Order Confirmation - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: "Dell Inc."
Message-ID:
Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 22:02:14 -0600
Reply-To: "Dell Inc."
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="______BoundaryOfDocument______"

elias
Premium Member
join:2000-07-24
Miami, FL

elias

Premium Member

Do you order online or through a rep?

-- Elias
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to elias

Premium Member

to elias
said by elias:

They're either lying to you, or you're ordering from a different Dell Small Business than the one I order from.

Here's a screenshot of a machine I just pulled out of the box to configure.

iManage Desksite and RealVNC were installed by me, but not that there's no AV, or anything inappropriate.

-- Elias
I realize you were probably addressing Catseyenu, but there may be a difference if you order from a rep by phone instead of online. Perhaps the price one pays to get a better deal online is more crap installed. I tried to order from a rep after I saw online that it was going to charge me full price for shipping (it is 50% of the full price to Hawaii during the times Dell offers free shipping at their website) so I didn't want to have to get a refund later from Customer Service. So, I picked up the phone and called Sales and explained the problem and was told no big deal, we will give you the 50% off the full shipping charge to Hawaii and actually send by overnight using FedX (which is the only shipper that can get something here overnight). So, the sales rep had me read off what I wanted and then we got to the coupons I had. The rep tried to put both in but couldn't. He ended up telling me that obviously I should order online since both coupons would be accepted and deal with Dell about the shipping (and some other things) after the fact. I wonder if the much cheaper prices online are compensated for by Dell installing tons of crap.

As for you not getting an AV installed, Dell has history of going back and forth on whether or not they insist an AV has to be installed. I asked the Sales rep and was told that Dell could not sell me a box without an AV. After I purchased the computer, I complained repeatedly to Dell about this policy. At one point, a Small Business Supervisor told me that Dell had changed their policy for Small Business yet again based on all the complaints. So, Dell periodically, I think, tries to force an AV on Small Business customers and then when they get a bunch of complaints they back off for awhile but eventually try again. Plus, they know that you will accept it if ordering online and you can save a lot more that way so it's a "gotcha" or, more positively, a trade-off for the $ savings of ordering on line.

catseyenu
Ack Pfft
Premium Member
join:2001-11-17
Fix East

catseyenu to elias

Premium Member

to elias
Online.

elias
Premium Member
join:2000-07-24
Miami, FL

elias

Premium Member

The firm has a dedicated sales rep, and we order everything through him. Whenever I need something, I just pick-up the phone or shoot him an e-mail, and he takes care of everything.

I suppose maybe it's different if you're just ordering things online here and there. The e-mail confirmation I get is different from the one you posted.

Mine comes with the sale rep's e-mail as the return address, etc. We also have charge accounts with Dell, and get some sort of special pricing. We have 4 offices throughout Florida, and all of our equipment is Dell (except servers and some printers).

-- Elias