WINDOWS XP HE and DELL Support 3

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Gregory
  • Start date Start date
J

John Gregory

My Dell machine just received a message announcing an upgrade to this new
version of Dell Support. It's automated and equipped to suggest fixes
whenever the need occurs. Apparently it monitors the system throughout the
duration the machine is on.

I've read their privacy policy in the past as was comfortable. I'm a little
more squeamish about what's done with data from my machine since the time I
bought this thing a year and a half ago.

Does anyone have a sound argument why I should not let DELL install their
monitor on my machine? It seems to work in cooperation with the notices from
Microsoft.
 
John Gregory said:
My Dell machine just received a message announcing an upgrade to this new
version of Dell Support. It's automated and equipped to suggest fixes
whenever the need occurs. Apparently it monitors the system throughout the
duration the machine is on.

I've read their privacy policy in the past as was comfortable. I'm a
little more squeamish about what's done with data from my machine since
the time I bought this thing a year and a half ago.

Does anyone have a sound argument why I should not let DELL install their
monitor on my machine? It seems to work in cooperation with the notices
from Microsoft.
Click to expand...

I have several Dell computers and have uninstalled "Dell Support" from all
of them. Not for privacy reasons but for system management reasons. The Dell
support monitor uses more memory than it's usefulness warrants in my
opinion. I also had a problem on one machine where it would hang at shutdown
preventing an unattended shutdown from completing. Fewer startup programs
and fewer programs phoning home is a reasonable goal.

I found it provided mostly useless messages (I recall "how to insert a CD
ROM" as one of the first I received ;-)
As far as "It seems to work in cooperation with the notices from Microsoft"
the only thing they share in common is chronology. i.e.. they send critical
update alerts the same way Microsoft does, as they become available. They
are separate resources.

If you have your computer set to at least alert you when critical (Windows)
updates are available to download you'll get the same information. As far as
driver updates from Dell the only time I need to look into those is if I run
into a problem that can conceivably be resolved with an improved driver.
Updating drivers on an otherwise stable system just because they are new
isn't always in your best interest. Logging into Dell support with your
Service Tag will get you a listing of available driver updates.
--
D

I'm not an MVP a VIP nor do I have ESP.
I was just trying to help.
Please use your own best judgment before implementing any suggestions or
advice herein.
No warranty is expressed or implied.
Your mileage may vary.
See store for details. :)

Remove shoes to E-mail.
 
I appreciate the advice. I'm tempted to lean in your direction at the
moment. I have 1gig of RAM and have just defragged my disc because the
system seems to be a tad slower. This Dell stuff just might bog things down
a bit further.
 
Back
Top