Dell: Tech-Support Calls About Spyware Cut In Half

The dramatic decrease, Mike George, vice president of Dell's U.S. consumer group, told the Louisiana legislators, is due to a combination of consumer awareness, increased use of security software, and attention from lawmakers and law enforcement.

In particular, George singled out the fact that three times as many Dell customers subscribe to a security or anti-virus service as did a year ago.

Like most top-tier PC makers, Dell bundles security subscriptions with its computers or offers it as an option. McAfee is the vendor of choice for Dell, although it recently began offering Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2005 AntiSpyware Edition as a $79 pre-installed add-on.