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Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

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Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#281

Post by sannee »

robocat wrote: post #254
aosmith wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My nexus 5 still works, I don't use it anymore but the thing was an absolute tank.

Nexus 5 was not a tank in my experience. On mine the plastic frame cracked between the power button and the volume control (I think a reasonably common problem with this phone, I've never had a frame crack on any other phone). After that one button gets stuck on, which makes phone cycle reboot - OK - I can workaround that. Then the microphone went bad: that is caused by the crack causing pressure on the micro-connect…

The soft plastic casing definitely cracks easily. On the other hand it does not fail catastrophically. I have dropped my Nexus 5 on the floor more times than I can count and while it has miniature cracks around the button/power connector it's nothing that prevents the phone from working.

Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#282

Post by waddlesworth »

elagost wrote: post #144

I don't think there will ever come a time when 1) savvy users will stop suggesting/recommending clean Windows installs on new computers and 2) OEM bloatware will stop being crap. I clean-installed Win10 recently. There was no driver installation I had to do - everything works great, and there are no unidentified devices in Device Manager. Say what you will about Windows 10, but that part is really cool. Save for vide…

I definitely advocate for Windows 10, it has a lot of features I like, but the auto-installing drivers has been a nuisance for me.

The biggest issue is when I have a computer with both integrated graphics, and a dedicated graphics card. I used to disable integrated graphics in the BIOS, but this causes a litany of problems now. Even with integrated disabled, Windows 10 will still try and install the drivers for it, and every time it does this, they seem to take precedence over my dedicated drivers. I ended up giving up and just enabling integrated and leaving the drivers there.

Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#283

Post by esalman »

tbrock wrote: post #199
iClaudiusX wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even a brand new, unlocked, $1000 Samsung Galaxy S10 comes riddled with adware and spyware, some of it unremovable: "There are apps from Flipboard and Spotify as well as a unremovable version of Facebook. McAfee Anti-virus is baked into the operating system as "security," and the Samsung Gallery app wants to share my location with Foursquare. The storage management settings, which is just a simple file-cleanup app, i…

I don't understand why folks subject themselves to this for $1000 when other options are available. You don’t have to keep supporting Samsung by buying their phones. Get a pixel instead.

> I don't understand why folks subject themselves to this for $1000 when other options are available.

After my "flagship" HTC10 became unusable within 2 years because of battery issues, I was in the market for a new phone. But I was determined to not spend over $250. I ended up with Nokia 6.1. The only issue with it is that it is just a little slow because it uses snapdragon 435 (I think). However for the same reason it's battery lasts up to 2 days. Other stand-out features are unibody metal design, and Android One (meaning no bloatware). I bought it for only $180 from Best Buy after price match, and sold the HTC for $60 at decluttr.com. I think this is one of the best value purchase I ever made- up there with a Toyota Corolla.

Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#286

Post by agumonkey »

bayareanative wrote: post #247
mro_master wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But then the engineer in you says "I'll objectively choose the best hardware", and you end up with another lenovo. I really think it is the Windows Wizard Warriors that complain about bloatware, I always wipe it and start with a fresh install.

I don't use Windows, but Lenovos ship without any bloatware. Vanilla Windows plus their drivers. That's it.

They used to have malware/rootkits class programs preinstalled not long ago. Unless you mean thinkpads.

Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#287

Post by voltagex_ »

tbrock wrote: post #199
iClaudiusX wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even a brand new, unlocked, $1000 Samsung Galaxy S10 comes riddled with adware and spyware, some of it unremovable: "There are apps from Flipboard and Spotify as well as a unremovable version of Facebook. McAfee Anti-virus is baked into the operating system as "security," and the Samsung Gallery app wants to share my location with Foursquare. The storage management settings, which is just a simple file-cleanup app, i…

I don't understand why folks subject themselves to this for $1000 when other options are available. You don’t have to keep supporting Samsung by buying their phones. Get a pixel instead.

If I wanted the best camera in a phone on the market, my choices were the Note 9 (before the Pixel 3, I think) or one of the iPhones. I have enough invested in the Google/Android ecosystem that moving would be painful, plus I'm not a fan of Apple.

Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#288

Post by sannee »

lopmotr wrote: post #162

This doesn't sound quite as scary as the title. You still have to do one of these things that will all be nearly impossible in general. It's not like you can just set up a website and wait for victims to visit it. - XSS on one of Dell's sites. - Find a Subdomain Takeover vulnerability on a Dell site. - Make the request from a local program. - DNS Hijack the victim.

> - DNS Hijack the victim.

This is the trivial one. You can just set up a free Wi-Fi access point next to a restaurant that people from company-you-want-to-hack like to visit.

Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#289

Post by taneq »

elagost wrote: post #144

I don't think there will ever come a time when 1) savvy users will stop suggesting/recommending clean Windows installs on new computers and 2) OEM bloatware will stop being crap. I clean-installed Win10 recently. There was no driver installation I had to do - everything works great, and there are no unidentified devices in Device Manager. Say what you will about Windows 10, but that part is really cool. Save for vide…

Just be careful not to let video drivers auto-update if you're fending off shovelware. Last time I said "check for updated drivers" on my nVidia graphics card I was force-fed the Geforce Experience utility.

Also (having spent the day reinstalling a new Dell 2-in-1 with a clean Windows install) a few of the devices were quite happy (if generic) in Device Manager but didn't work quite right until I manually installed the drivers off the Dell website. (The ones that spring to mind were the wifi, audio drivers and the webcam, but there might have been others.)

Re: Remote Code Execution on Most Dell Computers

#290

Post by raehik »

cryptonector wrote: post #50

OEM: Let's differentiate our otherwise commodity hw product! OEM: I know, let's add value with bundled software the customer can't uninstall! Then the bundled software turns out to (inevitably) be useless vulnerable garbage. Inevitably because a) the customer doesn't need it, b) it's engineered with all the effort that normally goes into adware for captive audiences (i.e., _minimal_), which means it will be vulnerabl…

Somehow I found this the other day when searching for a new laptop. 2 models, identical, one with Windows 10 pre-installed and one FreeDOS (of all OSes!). 100€ cheaper. Perhaps not to everyone, but that's a worthwhile difference to me as a non-Windows user.
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