Lenovo Made Laptops Vulnerable to Hacking: Experts
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/lenovo-made-laptops-vulnerable-hacking-experts-n308926China's Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest PC maker, had pre-installed a virus-like software on laptops that makes the devices more vulnerable to hacking, cybersecurity experts said on Thursday. Users reported as early as last June that a program called Superfish pre-installed by Lenovo on consumer laptops was 'adware', or software that automatically displays adverts. Robert Graham, CEO of U.S.-based security research firm Errata Security, said Superfish was malicious software that hijacks and throws open encrypted connections, paving the way for hackers to also commandeer these connections and eavesdrop, in what is known as a man-in-the-middle attack. Lenovo had installed Superfish on consumer computers running Microsoft Corp's Windows, he added. "This hurts (Lenovo's) reputation," Graham told Reuters. "It demonstrates the deep flaw that the company neither knows nor cares what it bundles on their laptops." An administrator on Lenovo's official web forum said on Jan. 23 that Superfish has been temporarily removed from consumer computers. Lenovo executives were not immediately available for comment during the Lunar New Year holiday in China.
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They were ok when they first took over the IBM ThinkPad but as of this writing they are all a bunch of POS given my extensive experience with them.
The worst feature today is the crappy twisted up keyboard. If you don't have carpal tunnel syndrome, you will have it soon enough trying to type on that crimped up keyboard.
It is a shame really as the ThinkPad was my favorite laptop of all times but today, you couldn't give me one of them. 
Now we read about this. I wonder how many other programs such as are described are to be found on them that leave one highly vulnerable to a cyber attack or are in fact already viruses? Just the one they describe "Superfish" should tell one all they need to know about the Lenovo laptops being made today.
As for other cheaper models, they are fairly useless and seem to have a shelf-life of about six mos. if lucky.
RIP to the IBM ThinkPad!
