Vodafone HTC Desire OTA update - tricked into installed bloatware

nickmack

Yup, being discussed here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2637997

CityWalk_2

Allan87 wrote: »

I was quite shocked to find new bookmarks in my browser for flirtomatic and match.com, good job I don't have a suspicious OH but how many others are going to get caught out and have to say "It wasn't me, it was Vodafone" lol

you can just remove these though?

N20Y1D

Good old vodafone, i'm glad i got out when i did, they seem to be doing there best to upset as many of there customers as they can....

fatboy88

Is there another way we can have this installed and does this apply to the wildfire as well

chrisrosevilla

I've just sent this complaint to the vodafone ceo whose details I found by googling 'vodafone ceo'. He asks for feedback.
' 'I am writing as a business user to complain about your recent proposed update to my phone. I have been with Vodafone for at least 10 years and am the proud owner of an HTC Desire. It has rapidly become an essential business tool; largely replacing my laptop and I’m waiting patiently for the Froyo update which will introduce HD video recording to save me carrying my HD camcorder. This phone is customised exactly to my needs, it is not a toy and I am not some silly kid!!
Your latest update would change my home page, add unremovable apps and bookmarks I will never use including one for some flirting/sex page (some of my customers are religious, imagine my embarrassment if they’d seen it – which pathetic sicko thought of that?). The arrogance of this astonishes me.
Please get on with what you are supposed to be doing and get the Froyo update out ASAP. Remove the current update. If you can’t serve your business customers properly I will find a network that can. Congratulations you have just antagonised a long term satisfied customer for no reason.'


If I was the parent of a kid with this update, would I want him her plied with flirtomatic? Certainly not.

Allan87

CityWalk wrote: »

you can just remove these though?

The bookmarks are removable, the apps aren't. Not that the apps even work, they say they cannot connect to the internet, so a bit pointless. It's just that they can seemingly push updates to my phones including adult links without my permission, it's my phone not theirs! If your ISP did this to your PC it'd be a major breach of privacy not to mention possible breach of the computer miss use act?

rhintintin

as they are now saying they will be more lenient on the forums, could someone ask for my posting rights to be given back? Same username as this one. All I was doing was pasting the ceo contact details.... this one: http:// campaigns .vodafone .co.uk / guylaurence

Not_a_Newbie

I couldn't believe this thread when I read it. I think I have been really lucky, I signed up to Vodafone in April (after having been with T-Mobile for years), I've had no problems (so far) with the 500 mb download limit, not come close to this limit yet, no problems with vodafone themselves (so far) and I also received the Froyo update without these additional Vodafone bits that everyone has mentioned above. Usually when things go wrong I'm at the top of the list!

maxtweenie

Not_a_Newbie wrote: »

I couldn't believe this thread when I read it. I think I have been really lucky, I signed up to Vodafone in April (after having been with T-Mobile for years), I've had no problems (so far) with the 500 mb download limit, not come close to this limit yet, no problems with vodafone themselves (so far) and I also received the Froyo update without these additional Vodafone bits that everyone has mentioned above. Usually when things go wrong I'm at the top of the list!

You must have an unbranded phone to have received froyo.

RandoMiser

maxtweenie wrote: »

You must have an unbranded phone to have received froyo.

On that note, if you have a carrier branded Desire, you could just debrand it and get 2.2 now.

I've had a carrier branded Desire for about 3 months now but debranded it as soon as it was possible. As always it's "freed" my phone and made it the phone that HTC intended it to be. For those of you who are feeling adventurous / who are reasonably techie, head over to one of the better forums (E.g. Modaco or XDA) where you can find detailed instructions on how to debrand.

A couple of words of warning though:
1. If you're having difficulty with the instructions, you may want to think twice before continuing to try and try again as you could potentially brick your phone.
2. You will most likely void your carrier warranty.
3. Again... if you're not sure of what you're doing, you could brick your phone.

The above said, I wouldn't classify myself as the most techie guy in the world and I know nothing about programming but still managed to debrand my HTC Desire (and Hero before that) after some focused searching of the tech forums.

Hope this helps