Claims that 'I now have to doubt the technology that was exciting in the past'

Shannon Valois, who studies technology and AI at the University of Edinburgh, tweeted, ``Since today's technology has long focused on guiding and monitoring users, the joy I felt about new technology has gradually disappeared. It's really sad that it used to be the other way around, technology is one of the things I loved the most.' In response to Mr. Valois's tweet, economist Frisco Uplink introduced an episode and lamented, ``Now technology has become suspicious.''

I help seniors with technology issues | Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33314291

“I volunteer to help seniors with technology issues. A woman I always look after brought me a Lenovo laptop. He said he bought a notebook PC for $ 500 (about 74,000 yen), and asked, 'Why is it so slow even though I just bought it?'

so here's a story

I volunteer helping seniors with their technology issues. One of my regulars came in with a Lenovo laptop. It still had a retail sticker; I imagine she bought it used, for over $500

'I bought this so recently, how is it already so slow,' she asked me https://t.co/DypMKpzmzb

— Frisco Uplink, Dynamic Islander (@_danilo) October 20, 2022

“I opened the task manager and checked, and yes she said the CPU usage was at 100% all the time and the laptop was almost unusable. was running all sorts of Lenovo-branded junkware.”

I fire up the task manager to get a look at things

She's right: her CPU capacity is SATURATED at regular intervals. The laptop is barely usable.

Digging into the list of processes, there's all kinds of Lenovo branded junkware running in the background.

— Frisco Uplink, Dynamic Islander (@_danilo) October 20, 2022

'A quick Google search revealed that this condition is a common problem with these PCs. I started up the Lenovo front end and tried to fix all this... This awful Lenovo software shows an unnecessary splash screen and launches a terrible app that doesn't work at all.'

A quick Google search confirms this is a common issue on these machines. I try to launch Lenovo's frontend for all of this junk...

and it gets so much worse. All this hideous Lenovo branding in an unnecessary splash screen, leading to a hideous app of zero value

— Frisco Uplink, Dynamic Islander (@_danilo) October 20, 2022

'You dig in and you see what's going on. Lenovo wants constant monitoring. They want a 'relationship' with their customers. How often does the trackpad really need a firmware update?I asked the woman for permission to remove it.'

As I'm digging around I realize what's going on: Lenovo wants surveillance turf

They want a 'relationship' with the customer that's a thinly veiled back door into their machine. How often does the trackpad REALLY need a firmware update?

I ask my client for consent to remove it

— Frisco Uplink, Dynamic Islander (@_danilo) October 20, 2022

“The problem is that this garbage program is running, and the PC itself has completely stopped. It's getting late.'

The challenge is that now with this garbage program running in the foreground, the whole machine has truly ground to a halt

It takes me five minutes (!) of the limited time in our appointment even to access the Add/Remove Programs panel, so slow is everything running

— Frisco Uplink, Dynamic Islander (@_danilo) October 20, 2022

'After explaining everything to the lady, I was running out of time, so I deleted everything about the Lenovo-branded surveillance garbage app from my PC. When I rebooted, the CPU usage dropped a lot and the UI was definitely responsive. became'

After explaining the situation to the client, I purge EVERYTHING related to this Lenovo branded surveillance garbage from the machine, just as we're running out of time.

And instantly: it's usable again. CPU graph cools down, UI becomes reliably responsive again.

— Frisco Uplink, Dynamic Islander (@_danilo) October 20, 2022

“Technology is necessary for seniors to communicate with others and participate in cultural civic life,” said Uplink. and lower the experience for the elderly,” he criticized. ``Twenty years ago it was easy to get excited about technology, but now the ethics of the industry as a whole are questionable, requiring constant scrutiny and skepticism,'' he said. He argued that the lack of ethics has led to a loss of hope and admiration for technology.