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You are here: Home / Tech News / Guess what? Your brand new computer might have come from the factory with malware on it.

Guess what? Your brand new computer might have come from the factory with malware on it.

Posted on February 22, 2015

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superfish-adware-logoPicking up a malware infection with your PC is almost as easy as counting to 1 these days, but if you bought a Lenovo machine recently it quite possibly was infected with adware before it ever left the factory!

It has recently come to light that some Lenovo desktop, laptop and Windows tablet PCs were shipped with the Superfish adware app already pre-installed. This takes the concept of junkware to an entirely new level! 

The Superfish malware is particularly troubling because the adware code includes its own fake root security certificate. This fake certificate basically tells Windows that the software is certified to be safe, prompting Windows to give the adware access to encrypted https web traffic that other forms of malware typically cannot access.

Lenovo hasn’t revealed which specific hardware models shipped with Superfish on their hard drives. That means if you bought ANY Lenovo machine in recent months it just might be infected with the adware.

Luckily, our friends over at LastPass have created a handy Superfish checker which will test your computer on the spot and tell you whether it’s infected with Superfish or not. All you have to do is visit the page and you’ll be notified immediately of the results.

If you discover that your PC is in indeed infected, Lenovo has published a page on their website with instructions for removing Superfish from your system.

Bottom line: It’s bad enough that we have to continually be on guard against getting a malware infection. Personally, I find it unconscionable that a machine could be shipped from the factory with it already pre-installed. You’d think every laptop, tablet and desktop PC they build could be checked and certified malware-free before they box it up and ship it out.

As you might have guessed, I won’t be reviewing and/or recommending any new Lenovo devices for a while.

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