Update in todays spywareinfo newsletter.
available from here - http://www.spywareinfo.net/sept23,2005
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Misconfigured Installer Fuels Rumors of Shady Dell Tactics
A misconfigured installer for the Myway Search Assistant, which is preinstalled into most new Dell PCs and laptops, is fueling some disturbing rumors about Dell.
On computer tech support message boards all over the web, people have been posting stories of trying unsuccessfully to remove the Myway Search Assistant from Dell computers. When they attempt removal, the uninstaller link in Windows' Add/Remove applet suddenly becomes disabled. This has led many people to suspect that Dell is trying to prevent people from removing the software.
Some time ago, Dell began to bundle the Myway Search Assistant into consumer PCs and latptops. They also set the Internet Explorer home page to a customized Dell web portal hosted on myway.com.
This was controversial, as many people dislike software from Myway. The software is a very close cousin to certain adware programs, which are written by the same company that owns Myway. The Myway Search Assistant is not itself adware or spyware. It is bundled with some other products, non-optionally in many cases, so it qualifies as foistware. It is this latter practice that led eventually to Myway software becoming targeted by antispyware programs.
To make matters worse, when many people see the Myway Search Assistant in the Windows Add/Remove list, they begin to remove the software. In most cases, they are told that, after a reboot, the software will be gone. After they reboot, the entry still is listed in Add/Remove. The entry no longer has any option to remove the software.
This has led to many angry postings on several message boards. Upon seeing that the software still is listed and that there seems to be no way to remove it, people begin to suspect Dell of trying deliberately to prevent users from removing the software. Understandably, people were pretty ticked off about this.
After exchanging hundreds of emails with readers who own, sell, manage or repair Dell computers, I believe I know what is going on now.
The problem is that either Dell or Myway misconfigured the installer program. The installer for the Myway Search Assistant, as used by Dell, was compiled with the Microsoft Software Installer. When the Myway software is removed by way of Add/Remove, the installer suddenly begins to use the ARNOREMOVE option. What that does, in Windows 2000 and XP, is to disable the "remove" button in an Add/Remove listing. The purpose of the ARNOREMOVE option suddenly becoming activated is something known only to Dell and/or Myway.
This appears to be the cause of all the confusion. The software is removed, or at least disabled. Since it remains listed in Add/Remove, people believe that the software still is installed. The fact that suddenly the "Remove" function is disabled makes the whole thing look nefarious. It is very easy to see why people would think that Dell is trying to prevent removal of the Myway software.
In fact, the Myway Search Assistant is uninstalled when the Add/Remove uninstaller is used. That can be verified afterward by clicking the "Search" button in Internet Explorer. Before removal, the "Search" button will show a Dell/Myway Search Assistant. After removal, the "Search" button uses the default Windows Search Companion. That means that the software no longer is active.
To remove the Myway listing from Add/Remove, download a tool called Windows Installer CleanUp Utility from Microsoft. Install the program, then start it. Look for the Myway Search Assistant entry, highlight it and click the "Remove" button. That should remove the entry. Make certain you do this only after you have used the entry to remove the Search Assistant.
This all may be a moot point soon. I've heard a number of reports, all concerning Dell computers only a few days old, that the add/remove listing uninstalls the Myway software cleanly. Maybe Dell heard the same rumors I did, drew the same conclusions and decided to fix the problem.
Many thanks to the numerous readers who helped me research this story. Special thanks to Steve Wechsler of MVPS.org for explaining about the ARNOREMOVE flag in the Windows Installer.
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Many thanks to Mike for his indepth work on this, which does settles this in my mind.
Users have the right to remove the MyWay installed software, which when Dell/Myway have installed correctly it is possible to do, so in this light any 'recommended' removal should show it as optional (EG Users choice) and not show it as Malware of one type or another.