Google and Dell reached a deal a while back where Dell would install the Google Toolbar on all of its systems. This was at a time when Google was trying to convince government agencies that changing the default search engine in IE7 was a very difficult thing to do when it’s not.

Dell likes to sell computers but it also likes to make a profit on those computers which is a very hard thing to do in today’s world. But it seems like it has teamed up with Google to provide a solution for that, built-in browser advertizing.

It seems that search results on some Dell systems are displayed on a Dell branded Google results page with about the top half of the page being nothing but ads. Just about every page is intercepted by a rather surreptitious program installed by Dell but provided by Google that redirects pages for the sole purpose of advertizing.

This could be labeled spyware. While it is spying on your searching habits by redirecting pages to Dell branded ads I don’t think it is collecting any useful information and sending it to Dell but it could be, no one is sure.

The OpenDNS blog has done some background checking and found that the program responsible for this is known as the “Browser Address Error Redirector.” Consider most people buying a Dell, would they know what to do about that, probably not. The program can be removed in “Add/Remove” programs but the point is it shouldn’t be there in the first place.

I’m finding it very difficult to believe that Google would engage in this type of behavior. My suggestion is if you don’t want to deal with this, instead of buying a Dell, buy a Mac instead.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 4:34 am under Google, Internet, Uncategorized.

Read more entries by Jonathan Schlaffer.
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