What is the Superfish Adware, and How do You Fix Your Laptop?

The Superfish adware, revealed this week by users on Lenovo’s forums, has bee preloaded on some PC Models.

The Superfish Visual Discovery is able to track your searches and browsing habits, including on secure sites, and uses this information to place additional advertisements on the sites that one visits, according to CNET.

Users have reported it on Lenovo Y50, Z40, Z50, G50 and Yoga 2 Pro models.

The site LastPass set up a way to check to see if your device is affected by Superfish.

If you are affected, you have to uninstall the program. It says:

Click the Windows Start button
Search uninstall program
Launch uninstall program
Right-click on Superfish Inc VisualDiscovery and select Uninstall
If prompted for administrator password, enter or provide confirmation

Then you'll have to uninstall the certificates:

Click the Windows Start button
Type certmgr.msc into the Search box
Click the certmgr.msc Program to launch it
If prompted for administrator password, enter the password or provide confirmation
Click on Trusted Root Certification Authorities
Open Certificates
Look for certificates mentioning Superfish Inc.
Right-click on any Superfish Inc certificates and delete
Restart your browser and return to this page to see you are safe

And after that:

Download LastPass to start managing your passwords: LastPass.com
Run the Security Check (from the Tools menu in your LastPass browser extension).
Use Auto-Password Change to instantly update weak or duplicate passwords.
Update other weak and duplicate passwords with the LastPass password generator.
Update passwords for critical websites like email, banking, and social networks

But the question remains: Is Superfish malware?

Says Forbes, “Lenovo won’t want anyone to call it that, but Superfish has been described as a piece of malware, or an adware pusher, that the Chinese firm pre-installs on consumer laptops. Superfish is also the name of the development company, with bases in Tel Aviv and Palo Alto, behind the tool. It claims it has ”developed the most advanced and scalable visual search technology in the world“ and was ranked America’s 64th most promising company by Forbes.”