In an online forum, Lenovo recently defended the inclusion of Snapfish in “consumer systems” and said it has requested changes in the software that “addresses” concerns about security. But customers are still upset. 

The pre-installed adware, which some are calling “malware,” exploded into international headlines on Thursday.

In a statement Thursday after the news broke, , Lenovo said it had stopped the installs due to customer complaints.

“Superfish technology is purely based on contextual/image and not behavioral,” a Lenovo administrator identified as “Mark” posted.

“It does not profile nor monitor user behavior.  It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted.  Every session is independent. When using Superfish for the first time, the user is presented the Terms of User and Privacy Policy, and has option not to accept these terms, i.e., Superfish is then disabled.”

Despite those assurances, some customers have complained.

“Crappy Experience”

“I just bought a Lenovo G50 Notebook. And as you might guess it’s also “infected” with PUP [potentially unwanted program] (a SuperFish Software (that’s the one which displays ads on webpages)),” posted on Lenovo customer. “So, now i try to clean up a brand new device. Sounds a bit absurd. What do you think?”

Added another: 

“Brand new Y40 here, and the same crappy experience.

“Just received my laptop, booted up, started browsing and this annoying Superfish VisualDiscovery bull**bleep** started popping up on me… **bleep**??!!

“So Lenovo, a supposedly renowned hardware maker, is pushing crapware into its customers??

“I’m stunned. Completely.”

Lenovo’s Response

The complaints led to a formal response by “Mark,”who went into great detail to explain Lenovo’s position:

“Due to some issues (browser pop up behavior for example), with the Superfish Visual Discovery browser add-on, we have temporarily removed Superfish from our consumer systems until such time as Superfish is able to provide a software build that addresses these issues. As for units already in market, we have requested that Superfish auto-update a fix that addresses these issues.

“To be clear, Superfish comes with Lenovo consumer products only and is a technology that helps users find and discover products visually. The technology instantly analyzes images on the web and presents identical and similar product offers that may have lower prices, helping users search for images without knowing exactly what an item is called or how to describe it in a typical text-based search engine.

“The Superfish Visual Discovery engine analyzes an image 100% algorithmically, providing similar and near identical images in real time without the need for text tags or human intervention. When a user is interested in a product, Superfish will search instantly among more than 70,000 stores to find similar items and compare prices so the user can make the best decision on product and price.

“Superfish technology is purely based on contextual/image and not behavioral. It does not profile nor monitor user behavior.  It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted.  Every session is independent. When using Superfish for the first time, the user is presented the Terms of User and Privacy Policy, and has option not to accept these terms, i.e., Superfish is then disabled.”