Chinese mini PC gets caught for shipping with factory-installed spyware

[Redaktion]

A YouTuber named The Net Guy Review recently received a mini PC for review from a Chinese brand called Acemagic. While everything appeared fine during the initial setup, a Windows Defender alert popped up when the reviewer was preparing to test the mini computer. The built-in antivirus software detected spyware that steals passwords, crypto, Steam accounts, and other sensitive user data.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Chinese-mini-PC-gets-caught-for-shipping-with-factory-installed-spyware.801946.0.html

[ascavav]

how can we know guy didn't install that spyware himself, it's just some noname with 25K subscribers

also lol, getting a chinese pc and not even reinstalling clean windows from official source is a CALL for trouble

[NikoB]

also lol, getting a chinese pc and not even reinstalling clean windows from official source is a CALL for trouble

Every day I read reviews on marketplaces, where crazy fools (most of the buyers) leave the system installed by Chinese sellers (on laptops refurbished in left factories, under the guise of new ones, according to the description), and even with a clear violation of the factory seals and the replacement of the factory one W11 Home (as can be clearly seen from the datasheet for this model on the manufacturer's website) to the pirated W11 Pro (KMS activation). Moreover, even with the loss of the official key to W11 Home - because the SSD is erased by Chinese sellers before installing a pirated version of the OS.

But these are just trifles against the backdrop of how the vast majority trust their private lives to the manufacturers of Chinese smartphones, using their firmware, although Western ones are not much better, they're just hiding these facts much more carefully.

[Heath]

Simple just reinstall windows or your own windows on it haha

[Johng]

how can we know guy didn't install that spyware himself, it's just some noname with 25K subscribers

also lol, getting a chinese pc and not even reinstalling clean windows from official source is a CALL for trouble

Installing your own OS doesn't mean the system isn't still compromised... Don't buy Chinese products they will have any sensitive data.

[dbjungle]

how can we know guy didn't install that spyware himself, it's just some noname with 25K subscribers

also lol, getting a chinese pc and not even reinstalling clean windows from official source is a CALL for trouble

Installing your own OS doesn't mean the system isn't still compromised... Don't buy Chinese products they will have any sensitive data.

If you can't trust Chinese products after clean installing the OS then you can't trust any products.  I always clean install on my computers.  I don't recall seeing Acemagic on the Prism slides, but I do recall seeing Apple and Google.  Both "reputable" brands.

[NikoB]

If you can't trust Chinese products after clean installing the OS then you can't trust any products.  I always clean install on my computers.  I don't recall seeing Acemagic on the Prism slides, but I do recall seeing Apple and Google.  Both "reputable" brands.

Do you trust the BIOS firmware (which you have all been prohibited from changing since 2016) or trust the secret coprocessors in all motherboards based on Intel (Intel ME) and AMD PSP chipsets, which are designed to monitor and control your PC in an undocumented mode, made in collaboration with US intelligence agencies?

It's just a matter of trust. And trust in the modern world, which is a cesspool of duplicity and deceit, is a sure sign of dementia.

[D]

OEM licence is a lot less than a retail licence in their cost and their resell pricing. You can go to any system builder shops and ask them.

I am not saying that the OS was not pirated, I really don't know either it is or it isn't. But just to make the jump because retail licence cost is higher than the PC retail price is not a valid argument.

I expect notebookcheck to have higher quality articles.

[Korndog]

Windows 11 home oem licensing is about $100. Don't believe other comments saying it's much cheaper. $143 on regular win 11 home, $120 for oem win 11 home. Check cdw website yourself. Large customers might get 5-10% off or $6-12. So yeah over $100 as article says.

[NikoB]

Windows 11 home oem licensing is about $100. Don't believe other comments saying it's much cheaper. $143 on regular win 11 home, $120 for oem win 11 home. Check cdw website yourself. Large customers might get 5-10% off or $6-12. So yeah over $100 as article says.

You don't need an M$ license for home, just activate any version you want for free. Licenses are needed only for those who are engaged in business, because only in this case can copywriters prove the existence of financial damage to them, because the presence of profit proves the presence of losses. A private person who is not engaged in entrepreneurial (in its official, legal definition) activity is not in danger of using pirated copies of Windows from a company that illegally (with the deliberate connivance of the antimonopoly authorities of the United States and other countries) controls the bulk of the desktop OS market on the planet.

[Rick]

You can get windows 10/11 keys for $10. If you don't know this by now in 2024 then you need more braincells.

[NikoB]

You can get windows 10/11 keys for $10. If you don't know this by now in 2024 then you need more braincells.

Those who do this and pay for a pirated key that is not worth a penny are just the most complete idiots on planet Earth. Activation of any version of Windows from 2015 is free and safe.

[RobertJasiek]

Activation of any version of Windows from 2015 is free and safe.

How does it work? Why is it legal?

[NikoB]

I never claimed that this was legal. I claim that it is 100% safe and free. Thanks to the M$ policy, such methods maintain an overwhelming market share in the desktop OS market.

How idiotic do have to be to buy a key to a pirated version for money? But the opinion of the majority is wrong, because the majority are idiots (c). =)

[Adam234]

Shouldn't zip is also considered as spyware. We comsumers take it for granted it isn't own by by cia?