Bought a Lenovo recently? Enjoy the pre-loaded Malware!

[TRWOV]

They stopped putting those stickers on with W7

Mine has it on the battery bay and more recenly a Compac Mini had it on the inside of the RAM door.

At worst you can use a Magic Jelly Bean to get the key


edit: Apparently the keyless activation is done on W8:
https://www.thurrott.com/uncategorized/1146/clean-pc-walkthrough-windows-8-1-ultrabook2-1

Looks like the BIOS? TPM? has the key embedded so you must run the W8/8.1 installer on the desktop, like an upgrade, otherwise you'd be stuck at the key screen if you use a boot disc.

I wonder if a Magic Jelly Bean would work on those W8 laptops?

 

[Caring1]

I edited my post to reflect what I actually meant. I knew what I meant, even if others don't.

 

[Ahhzz]

Mine has it on the battery bay and more recenly a Compac Mini had it on the inside of the RAM door.

At worst you can use a Magic Jelly Bean to get the key


edit: Apparently the keyless activation is done on W8:
https://www.thurrott.com/uncategorized/1146/clean-pc-walkthrough-windows-8-1-ultrabook2-1

Looks like the BIOS? TPM? has the key embedded so you must run the W8/8.1 installer on the desktop, like an upgrade, otherwise you'd be stuck at the key screen if you use a boot disc.

I wonder if a Magic Jelly Bean would work on those W8 laptops?

No, not reliably. I came across a method a few weeks ago, but forgot where I found it. I'll try to check my notes at work and post, but basically, you're correct: the number is coded in the bios on most new OEM pc's. Which doesn't mean much for most of us, but knowledge is a good thing.

 

[Naito]

How convenient. Almost as convenient as when Lenovo was able to purchase the ThinkPad line from IBM originally. The Chinese got yet another foot in the door to a lot of businesses...

 

[blobster21]

Two steps instructions on how to remove Lenovo's Superfish fishing tool

External test to check if Superfish's self signed CA is active on your browserS

edit: we're using 4 lenovo M73 4T4 and 128 Lenovo M82 SFF desktops at work, and i can confirm the later have Superfish installed after reviewing some of them. (bought Q1 2014, came with windows 8 preinstalled)

 

[Killer_Rubber_Ducky]

I speak from experience since my laptop is a Lenovo. I have NOT found this "malware" you speak of. Perhaps this is a recent thing? Maybe they are just copying the NSA's Cisco Malware mod?

 

[blobster21]

 

[Sasqui]

Download each version. Stick the Home Premium disc in, if it doesn't accept the key, reboot, stick the pro disc in, if it doesn't accept the key stick the Ultimate disc in. There is no lock out process involved with keys.

Problem is... I've got both retail and OEM versions. That makes 6 install discs and attempts! I guess one plus is that I do know they are either Ultimate or Pro, so that knocks it down to 4.

Can the ISO's still be found at Digitial River? I can't check from work.

 

[Caring1]

I can't tell what flavor install the keys belong to! I tried one and got locked out after 4 or so attempts.

It will tell you on the sticker that you are legally required to have on the computer.

 

[TRWOV]

I speak from experience since my laptop is a Lenovo. I have NOT found this "malware" you speak of. Perhaps this is a recent thing? Maybe they are just copying the NSA's Cisco Malware mod?

Not every model has it. These are the affected models:

G Series: G410, G510, G710, G40-70, G50-70, G40-30, G50-30, G40-45, G50-45
U Series: U330P, U430P, U330Touch, U430Touch, U530Touch
Y Series: Y430P, Y40-70, Y50-70
Z Series: Z40-75, Z50-75, Z40-70, Z50-70
S Series: S310, S410, S40-70, S415, S415Touch, S20-30, S20-30Touch
Flex Series: Flex2 14D, Flex2 15D, Flex2 14, Flex2 15, Flex2 14(BTM), Flex2 15(BTM), Flex 10
MIIX Series: MIIX2-8, MIIX2-10, MIIX2-11
YOGA Series: YOGA2Pro-13, YOGA2-13, YOGA2-11BTM, YOGA2-11HSW
E Series: E10-30

http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1929

 

[Frick]

Problem is... I've got both retail and OEM versions. That makes 6 install discs and attempts! I guess one plus is that I do know they are either Ultimate or Pro, so that knocks it down to 4.

Can the ISO's still be found at Digitial River? I can't check from work.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...-aio-with-both-32-and-64-bit-versions.145356/

That have worked on everything for me.

 

[newtekie1]

Looks like the BIOS? TPM? has the key embedded so you must run the W8/8.1 installer on the desktop, like an upgrade, otherwise you'd be stuck at the key screen if you use a boot disc.

The boot disc will read the key from the BIOS. This threw me the first time I bought a laptop with Win8.1 and wanted to do a clean install of Win8.1 Pro. I went through the install using the bootable USB method and it never asked me for a key or what version to install. It just read the key from the BIOS and installed Win8.1 Standard. I had to do the any time upgrade once it was installed to get to Pro.

Problem is... I've got both retail and OEM versions. That makes 6 install discs and attempts! I guess one plus is that I do know they are either Ultimate or Pro, so that knocks it down to 4.

Can the ISO's still be found at Digitial River? I can't check from work.

OEM and Retail now use the same disc. They have since at least Windows Vista.

It will tell you on the sticker that you are legally required to have on the computer.

Retail keys do not require a sticker on the computer.

 

[TRWOV]

The boot disc will read the key from the BIOS. This threw me the first time I bought a laptop with Win8.1 and wanted to do a clean install of Win8.1 Pro. I went through the install using the bootable USB method and it never asked me for a key or what version to install. It just read the key from the BIOS and installed Win8.1 Standard. I had to do the any time upgrade once it was installed to get to Pro.

Oh, ok, I was just conjecturing because without a key you'd be stuck at that screen but if it reads it off the bios that's much better. No more dealing with fading labels!

 

[newtekie1]

No more dealing with fading labels!

This alone is so much nicer!

 

[Caring1]

OEM and Retail now use the same disc. They have since at least Windows Vista.

So only the packaging has changed?
The OEM discs I have bought all come in a case in a cardboard sleeve, and not the plastic case the retail comes in.

 

[Mussels]

Mine has it on the battery bay and more recenly a Compac Mini had it on the inside of the RAM door.

At worst you can use a Magic Jelly Bean to get the key


edit: Apparently the keyless activation is done on W8:
https://www.thurrott.com/uncategorized/1146/clean-pc-walkthrough-windows-8-1-ultrabook2-1

Looks like the BIOS? TPM? has the key embedded so you must run the W8/8.1 installer on the desktop, like an upgrade, otherwise you'd be stuck at the key screen if you use a boot disc.

I wonder if a Magic Jelly Bean would work on those W8 laptops?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx

microsoft have a bunch of legit, temporary (like 24 hours kinda thing) keys you can use to install the OS, and then run your OEM key installer thingy afterwards.

 

[keakar]

I thought they skipped that from Vista? Cause I've installed a massive amounts of Windows 7 versions with a single universal image and it has always worked fine. OEM's, retails...

well if you have a key from sp1 included version it works on anything but if your key is for a version that didn't include sp1 then it will show as invalid for that install disk.

stupid yes but then they hope to sell updated sp1 included OS disks to people who don't realize whats going on to just use an older version install disk

 

[Ahhzz]

Other Certificates that appear to be compromised.

• Sendori
• Purelead
• Rocket Tab
• Super Fish
• Lookthisup
• Pando
• Wajam
• WajaNEnhance
• DO_NOT_TRUSTFiddler_root (Fiddler is a legitimate developer tool but malware has hijacked their cert)
• System Alerts, LLC
• CE_UmbrellaCert

Updated tool.
https://filippo.io/Badfish/

will test for most of them, as well as superfish, or follow these directions, and check yourself.

• Click the Windows Start button

• Type certmgr.msc into the Search box

• Click the certmgr.msc Program to launch it

• If prompted for administrator password, enter the password or provide confirmation

• Click on Trusted Root Certification Authorities

• Open Certificates

• Look for certificates mentioning Superfish Inc, or the above list. --ahhzz

• Right-click on any Superfish Inc certificates and delete or the above list. --ahhzz

• Restart your browser and return to this page to see you are safe

 

[Sasqui]

OEM and Retail now use the same disc. They have since at least Windows Vista.

Digital river has been taken down, so I went here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

Both keys I have say " Unsupported Product The product key you entered appears to be for software that was pre-installed on a device. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options."

Yes, they are OEM keys

 

[xorbe]

That doesn't mean it's not the same disc -- just that they won't provide you an iso.

 

[newtekie1]

Digital river has been taken down, so I went here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

Both keys I have say " Unsupported Product The product key you entered appears to be for software that was pre-installed on a device. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options."

Yes, they are OEM keys

That sucks! Digital River made it so easy to get safe ISOs for Windows.

 

[Sasqui]

That doesn't mean it's not the same disc -- just that they won't provide you an iso.

I'm hoping so, I do have ISO's of x64 Pro and Ultimate

That sucks! Digital River made it so easy to get safe ISOs for Windows.

I guess MS thought it was too easy

 

[Ahhzz]

That sucks! Digital River made it so easy to get safe ISOs for Windows.

I agree... I had to go to other sources to get my Win7 ISO for my technet, since I had left it at work, and was reloading the server this past weekend. It worked out ok, but you never know....