[pheroden]

I worked for Dell a few years ago, and this is a complete bullshit response. The service tag takes all of 3 seconds to obtain. The full system specs are revealed once it's entered. At no point is bypassing the customers security a requirement of getting your service tag.

[INTPenis]

If you worked for customer support then you know how much longer calls can take when people are looking for the service tag.

They were speaking for online support, where no support agent is available to guide the customer through finding the service tag.

I believe they had good intentions but it was very poorly executed.

[junto]

I'm an ex-Dell Support site web developer. This used to work using Java/ActiveX if memory serves me right. Since browsers have started to downgrade the whole Java experience, it appears that Dell now want you to download an EXE which you then have to install.

I really don't understand why they would need to install a root cert to make requests from a client's machine when you already have installed an EXE on the client's machine (which can basically do anything it wants).

Can anyone think of any genuine reason why an installed executable would need a CA root cert?

[INTPenis]

When it comes to leaving the private key on the client systems then I would have to refer to Hanlon's razor.

It could simply be a stupid mistake, social media make stupid mistakes into big deals but they're not a new phenomenon.

[pheroden]

No, but I sat across from them, and it never seemed to be an issue.