MYWAY REMOVAL

Question

REMOVAL (primary instructions)
(1) Remove MyWay
* Close all open Web browsers
* Click Start- Control Panel- Add or Remove Programs
* Double-click the Add or Remove Programs icon
* Click Remove a program
* Click My Way
* Click the Change/Remove button
* Follow the prompts. When done, restart the system

(2) Download/Install the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility . 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 in Add/Remove

REMOVAL (secondary instructions)
(1) Remove MyWay
* Close all open Web browsers
* Click Start- Control Panel- Add or Remove Programs
* Double-click the Add or Remove Programs icon
* Click Remove a program
* Click My Way
* Click the Change/Remove button
* Follow the prompts

(2) Download/Install the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility . 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 in Add/Remove

(3)
* Click Start- Run
* Type MsiExec.exe /X{78d944d7-a97b-4004-ab0a-b5ad06839940}
(If not found, skip to #4)
* Click OK
* Follow the prompts to remove MyWay

(4)
* Click Start- Find or Search- Files or Folders
* "Look In" should say Local Hard Drives
* Type MyWay [press Enter]
* Delete any/all found, close all boxes when finished

(5)
* Click Start- Run
* Type regedit [press Enter]
* Highlight My Computer
* Click Edit- Find
* Type MyWay [press Enter]
* Delete any/all found, press F3 to continue searching. Delete any/all found
* Close all boxes when finished
* Click Start- Shutdown- Restart- OK or Click Start- Turn Off Computer- Restart

Message Edited by DELL-ChrisM on 09-26-2005 08:12 AM

joe53 · Answer

ChrisM:

That method removed the (inactive) MyWay entry from my Add/Remove list. I had previously removed MyWay via the Add/Remove.

There are still about a half dozen Myway keys in my registry, which I am ignoring.

Thecla · Answer

p.s. btw thanks, ChrisM -- I tried to remove the inactive My Way Search item from add/remove programs several ways (including My Way's own unistallation tool) and your method was the only one that worked. Hopefully RegScrubXP removed the remaining registry entries too, but who knows.

JonSbeer · Answer

Apparently the Windows Installer Service is not available in Safe Mode so it appears to me that Steps 2 and 3 are invalid instructions.

If I skip to Steps 4 & 5 I'm "unstalling" by way of deleting files and folders and then editing a number of registry entries (only those entries referencing the string "MyWay"). Seems like a recipe for disaster to me.

PS - Yes, I have checked to ensure that the Windows Installer Service is correctly installed.

What are my options here?

Freon22 · Answer

This is poor! I was hoping for more with Dell. To put a spyware program of any kind on a computer that I paid good money for. Then make it where you almost have to be a computer tech to remove it, is sad. I will remember this when I buy my next computer!

I think that Dell should make a patch for this MyWay spyware so it can be removed throught the add/remove just like any other program. So my big question is will my McAfee virus program remove this from my computer?

The reason I say spyware is after doing a search on this program I find that it does collect some information when you visit certain sites so that makes it a spyware.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

All, I am working this.

Ecbntmkr · Answer

I have owned my Dell since Jan 2005, and have loved it. However, in the last week everytime I connect to the internet, an IE page called Myway pops up. I find this very odd since I never use IE and it certainly is not 'my way' of enjoying my internet. As I start investigating why this is popping up and where it came from, I discover it came installed from Dell. Thanks. (Dripping with sarcasm) I don't appreciate popups, spyware, or adware and I'm extremly infuriated that Dell is behind it. I will remember this when considering my next computer. Chris, feel free to pass this posting on to your superior.

ChrisRLG · Answer

ChrisM

Not sure if you get spywareinfo's newsletter.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/newsletter/archives/2005/sept10.php#dell

=========Quote - Mike from SWI =========

I asked for owners of brand new Dells to write to me in the last newsletter. I managed to write back - just once - to everyone who originally wrote to me. Then a lightning bolt fried the network card in my computer. I had no way to answer those emails again until the new ethernet card arrived. And when that happened, I needed to work on this newsletter, so I still haven't done it.

Sorry for going quiet on everybody. It couldn't be helped. For those of you who wrote, thank you very much. I'll be going back to those emails again this weekend.

One way or the other, I'll reveal the big secret about Dell next week. I'm just trying to confirm whether or not something is true before I start printing unverified rumors in this newsletter.

==================================

I would expect if Mike's test show it to be classed as malware that we will be recommending it be set to a mandatory fix instead of optional. Either way I think Dell is doing a dis-service to its users in selling machines without the option of not having this software installed.

gatorfan33810 · Answer

I've had my Dell since march 05 and it came with myway.  I noticed it being in my favorite list but just deleted it since I did not know what it was and had no desire to go there. I really had no problem with myway, such as it did not hijack my browser or anything. In the last two weeks, after a Mcafee virus update, the Mcafee program started identifing the myway program as a PUP.  I just kept on clicking on (continue what I was doing) until i got a answer on the proper removal method.  After going to the Mcafee web site I noticed that Dell was partnered with Mcafee.  I thought it was strange that Mcafee would identify a PUP on a installed program installed by its partner.  Last week after a virus update from Mcafee. guess what?  The Mcafee program no longer indentifies the Myway program as a PUP.  I guess that someone at Mcafee made a mistake and let the cat out of the bag.  It will be interesting to see your answer on this one. I was not subscribing to sparewareinfo newsletter, but I will now.

Freon22 · Answer

Like I said in an earyer post, I got my dell around the first of this year. I paid about $ 800.00 for it because I wanted XP Pro, so I could use IIS. It looks like I got more then I wanted! So how can I get listed on this newsletter, could someone list a link?

I use to think that dell was the best, not anymore! I know that the first of next year we will be replacing all the computer at my office. I am not saying at this point that we will not use dell for the replacements. I will wait and see how they handle this problem, if they do nothing then thats what I will do, nothing for dell. We can alway go to IBM, PB, or someone else for computers. Let me know about that newsletter.

Thanks

Edit: I found the link.

Message Edited by Freon22 on 09-12-2005 08:45 PM

ChrisRLG · Answer

http://www.spywareinfo.com/subscribe/   you have to provide your email address, then activate from the email received. Full 'opt in' procedure.   Use the same link to unsubscribe.

kryspie · Answer

ChirsM, As you know this is an issue for many people.  I feel it is Dell's duty to provide an .exe to remove this unwanted software.  Please advise us further.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

kryspie, That decision isn't made by technical support. The Sales & Marketing gurus dictate what goes on a system.

Freon22 · Answer

Then it doesn't sound like the Sales & Marketing gurus know what they are doing! I think their jobs are to help sales for Dell. But it looks like they are going backwards. I can see the advertisement now, Buy Dell 'You don't have to worry about get spyware from the net, We at Dell put spyware in every computer for you' I'm sure that will sell some computers for them.

ChrisRLG · Answer

Freon22 (and any others).   It has not been proved to me that the version of myway installed with Dell computers is the same as the version roundly condemed as Malware.   Some software do things that can be classed as Malware, yet can be 'helpful' in what they are doing.   =====   One of those would be the google toolbar, which is used by most anti-malware fighters because of its ability to do searches for the things we are looking for quickly. It does how ever have an update feature that you cannot turn off. That is one of the NO NO's that helps software get classified as Malware.   It also has a 'rating' system that 'phones home' giving google the knowledge of where you have been, with the aim of using such data to rate the websites visited. That too is a major NO NO for getting software classified as Malware. That feature can be turned off, and it is a shame it is on by default.   BTW for those who might post to support Google, I actually have it installed on all my machines. But that does not change the issues about it.   =====   I don't like the fact it that Myway cannot easily be removed. That in itself is a major NO NO for being classified as Malware   Because of the closeness of the Dell Myway and the known Myway that we (anti-malware fighters) regularly target, I would not be happy with it on my systems. But then I would always wipe any new machine I receive and reinstall just what I wish to have, and not what the manufacturer thinks I need.

ChrisRLG · Answer

Update in todays spywareinfo newsletter.

available from here - http://www.spywareinfo.net/sept23,2005

========quote======

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.

=======end quote ======

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.

Virus & Spyware

MYWAY REMOVAL

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