The smartware introduction into all your product lines is by far the stupidest thing you, WD, have ever done. The external hard drives can't be used on other people's computers and conflict with many other programs.

If a suer wants a friends information, or needs to access it on another computer like a big usb stick - which is what the drives are, you CANNOT expect every pc to read it properly and have a pre-installed wd smartware to crap up the system for the people who don't want Seagate.

Be sensisble. When a product works, it works. It doesn't need updates for the pc end of the version. That should be OPTIONAL to HELP HOME USE. By doing this I' am positive older customers and new ones who don't know any better are turning to other companies. The "essential" phase of the external data storage section of WD is crapware and spamware, NOT smartware.