Solved Absolute Module removal from Dell Bios, some call it a 'rootkit' for tracking. Should I do this?


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sdowney717

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Detecting and removing Absolute persistence technology

Absolute persistence technology amounts to a persistent rootkit pre-installed by many device manufacturers (Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Toshiba, etc) to facilitate LoJack for laptops, and
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Dell tells you how, once it is gone can never be reactivated, and it is not activate linked to Absolute servers that I know of on my laptop I just bought.

 

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I am not sure how to interpret this...
Any ideas?
I did update to the latest bios from Dell and it is not called Computrace anymore, Just Absolute with these 3 options.
It seems to mean to me that all your doing is changing the interface? It still exists on the Laptop?
OR is Permanently Disabled really mean this backdoor is no longer open to the Absolute servers?

Absolute Persistance
Disable The Absolute Persistence Module Interface is Disabled.Enable The Absolute Persistence Module Interface is Enabled. (This allows the Absolute OS Activation Agent to Provision the platform and "Activate" the platform.)Permanently Disable The Absolute Persistence Module Interface is permanently disabled. Permanent: Cannot be changed.
 

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Here is some info on this from Dell forum
www.dell.com

Absolute Software | DELL Technologies

My XPS 8960 desktop apparently has the Absolute agent (from Absolute Software) embedded in the BIOS, and currently set to Enable. The Absolute software, which is really quite impressive, can be ver...
www.dell.com www.dell.com

Reading his response, I think I will Permanently Disable the agent.
 

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I set to disabled. Info says you can not do that if it has been tracked by an Absolute server. So why leave this back door open is my thinking.

1708647458306.png

Location of this setting in the bios
1708647515228.png
 

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ssd WD 500 gb
LOL, So funny! I just noticed DELL made a dumb spelling mistake, the wrote 'farther' use when it should be 'further' use.

Some kind of accent ya thunk?
1708648579832.png

"The widely accepted rule is to use farther when being literal and discussing a physical distance, as in “He went farther down the road.” Further is used when discussing a more symbolic distance or to discuss a degree or extent, as in “I wanted to discuss it further, but we didn’t have time.”
 

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some kind of old ASUS MB
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ssd WD 500 gb
@sdowney717 Could you kindly explain the steps to go to setting in BIOS regarding absolute module removal please. Cheers!
 

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i have just checked my Dell lap top and have found that setting to be greyed out and not available.
but i have Ubuntu Linux installed so it maybe only operational if Windows is installed.
this most likely of no help to you.

best of luck, Steve ..
 

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sdowney717 said:
LOL, So funny! I just noticed DELL made a dumb spelling mistake, the wrote 'farther' use when it should be 'further' use.

Some kind of accent ya thunk?
Click to expand...

Noticed that recently and was wondering the same thing, amusing to see that I am not the only one

XxXxX said:
i have just checked my Dell lap top and have found that setting to be greyed out and not available.
but i have Ubuntu Linux installed so it maybe only operational if Windows is installed.
this most likely of no help to you.

best of luck, Steve ..
Click to expand...
Dug around and found an official answer here, where it specifically mentions the Absolute Persistence settings greyed out in the BIOS: Absolute Community

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but hopefully this information will help someone in the future!
 

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I have an Inspiron 3583. I came from a corporate environment. The first thing I did was to make sure Computrace (little older laptop) was disabled permanently. I also replaced the SSD that came with the laptop. Can't be too careful. Dell, HP, ASUS, etc. Don't need to know where my laptop is or it's contents.
 

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