Remove HP Spyware From Your Laptop *HOW TO* in English

If your laptop was made by HP then you should watch this video because you've probably got hidden services running.
I was optimising a customers computer and, even after all my usual tricks, I noticed that it wasn't performing as well as I expected. It was a low cost model with a dual core CPU and a mechanical hard drive and I discovered a hidden service that doesn't show up in 'Programs and Features' and isn't removed when all other HP software is uninstalled. There are also four other HP services too!
Note that these services are truly hidden - they are absolutely not removed when you uninstall the Hewlett Packard software listed in 'Apps and Features' and 'Programs and Features'.
So you can maximise the performance of your HP laptop by following this video. It shows you what to look for and how to actually remove them. It's especially important if your device has a mechanical hard drive because back ground services that access the drive will really dent performance.
The only technical part of the process that I don't explain is the need to be familiar with taking ownership of folders and their contents.
I can make a separate video about that if other guides aren't clear enough for you.
I'm never going to get rich from this, but it is nice to get something... So if you've watched this video and it influenced or helped you then please click Like and Subscribe.
You can also buy me a coffee using the Ko-fi link if you think I deserve one...
ko-fi.com/nicbunting
#hewletpackard
#slowlaptop
#hp

[@dbpsychodelic]

Thanks. Deleted every single service from HP. Wow, they sure made it difficult but thanks to you they are now GONE.

[@LuXoR1590]

Why you delete them all, they not bad?

[@sterntechdaddy]

That depends upon what they are doing. Note that if you install Windows using a USB made by the Microsoft Media Creation tool then there are no HP services anyway. :)

[@DjPorkchop73]

Pretty good video. Thanks for sharing! Anyone not in the know, Touchpoint is part of HP Support Assistant (which I find to be very intrusive in and of it self). Take care all and be safe out there. Be kind to each other!

[@sterntechdaddy]

It mysteriously got left behind after HP Support Assistant and other HP related software was uninstalled... on newer machines it might get removed more cleanly. :)

[@vibe374]

This is exactly what I was looking for, But is it safe to uninstall the HP apps? Like, will they affect performance later on?

[@sterntechdaddy]

This video refers to a particular bit of software that's clearly collecting data - and its hidden. For the other software listed in Apps & Features, you can usually uninstall pretty much everything with HP in it's name. But it is worth putting the name into Google to see what it does before you do that. Some are obvious - like HP Customer Experience Enhancements and game packs - but some could be used for Fn keys and other hardware controls. :D

[@ruthcherry3177]

Unfortunately, even though I googled the couple of remaining HP files I removed, it's broken my laptop. I did make a backup, and I exported the Reg Ed settings... I really hope it's not too much work to get it running again.

[@sterntechdaddy]

Removing the files shown in the video won’t break the computer… but there may be other files with a HP label in them that will. Either way… it’s pretty easy to get it fixed. If you’ve got the important data backed up somewhere then you can just reinstall the plain version of Windows from Microsoft. It’ll only take 10 minutes on a modern PC and Windows Update will sort out the missing drivers for you if there are any devices that aren’t spotted by the installer. 🙂

[@criconinvestments7723]

Thank you so much 🙂. HP is still just as sneaky as ever... Speaking of which, it seems they've moved it from this location smh...

[@sterntechdaddy]

Easiest thing to do is identify the running service and then open the file location using Task Manager. Or just do a clean instal… if you do that you can also claim back the 23GB that usually gets taken by the recovery partition. 🙂

[@criconinvestments7723]

@@sterntechdaddy 😲 Whaat wow ok thanks

[@zahrada184]

As for an amateur it was a bit difficult for me to follow all the steps with camera not directly pointed to the monitor. But what a great instructions, thanks a lot! I was surprised to find also a residua of allready uninstalled anti-virus sw.

[@sterntechdaddy]

Glad it helped!

[@isozar]

hello, thanks for the video, i don't have ProgramData directory in my system, any help?

[@sterntechdaddy]

It'll be hidden... so make sue you tweak the View tab in the general Folder Options to show hidden files and folders and unhide protected operating system files.

[@isozar]

@@sterntechdaddy ok thank u ... what about the registry files named HpSAMD and HpSysInfoCap? should i delete them?

[@sterntechdaddy]

@@isozar HpSAMD is the Smart Array SAS/SATA Controller Media Driver - I would be tempted to just remove that because its likely to have been installed as part of an HP driver package rather than something native to Windows and you're not likely to have a SAS drive fitted. SAS and SATA are compiatible with each other too so it should be safe to remove. If you do delete it, save the registry key first just in case - then if there is a problem you can boot into Safe Mode and restore it. HpSysInfoCap is a requirement for Hp Support Assist - so you can remove that. For both registry entries you can check the file they reference to get more of an idea about what they are and what impact they have on the system. Hope this helps.

[@isozar]

@@sterntechdaddy thank u ... Subscribed and hope ur channel grows more!

[@sterntechdaddy]

@@isozar Thanks!

[@moffle2851]

I can’t seem to uninstall this program because no matter where I look I can’t find it except I know it’s there cause I disabled it (didn’t work) I’ve looked everywhere for it to try and uninstall with no succes, everywhere I do see it I can’t uninstall it that way. 😭 Is there a way to force uninstall it with cmd prompt

[@sterntechdaddy]

You need to enable 'Show hidden files and folders', enable 'Show extensions for known file types' and disable 'Hide Protected Operating System Files'. Open File Explorer, click View, then 'Options' and then the 'View' tab. You'll see the above settings. I mention this at the start of the video, but don't show you how to do it... so once you've changed the settings watch the video again. :)

[@sterntechdaddy]

That will work, but it won't show everything and MSCONFIG is really meant to be a diagnostic tool - rather than a fix tool. Take a look at CCleaner - which lets you manage and delete start up items more effectively. If you really want to get tech ninja about it then try HiJackThis - but be careful with that. ;D

[@adhamentertainment2587]

I read that system.sav is part of recovery, should I go and only deleted HP stuff from this file instead of everything?

[@sterntechdaddy]

It’s used by HP tools for recovery… if it’s inside a HP folder then you can delete it. It’s is a folder then it could be empty anyway. 🙂

[@adhamentertainment2587]

@@sterntechdaddy thanks 👍

[@adamillo]

How do I uninstall the HP program called "HP RAM Disk Manager"? For some dumb reason it's there even though I don't even have an HP laptop and use an Intel iMac with Bootcamp in order to use Windows

[@sterntechdaddy]

Should be listed as an installed program... But if you can find the running processes in Task Manager then you can identify the folder location and remove it manually.

[@adamillo]

@@sterntechdaddy that's the thing, it isn't listed at all. And when I manually remove it, I get a problem where I now still have the icon for this app in control panel app entry list that now has no use anymore since I removed the app itself, and I can't easily remove it. Some people said that I need to delete the CPL file for this app somewhere in order to remove this icon from control panel but I wasn't successful in finding it yet

[@sterntechdaddy]

They are right. You can search for *.cpl to find it if you know the name. But if you can reinstall it then I would suggest using Revo Unistaller to then remove it. That program will dig around and remove everything associated with the program that the uninstaller misses. And it can detect and list programs that it finds that might not be listed in Programs and Features. You can also try CCleaner - which might pick up on the stuff that's not connected to a program anymore. So try CCleaner and if that doesn't help, reinstall it and use Revo. :) Both have free versions.

[@buster12666]

thank you

[@sterntechdaddy]

Hope it helped.

[@pcislocked]

well, they will just get reinstalled via windows update.

[@sterntechdaddy]

I doubt it… this is preinstalled by HP and unlikely to be part of Windows Update.

[@pcislocked]

@@sterntechdaddy I am sorry to object but that's not the case. The laptop firmware makes Windows recognise a fake ACPI device, and then Windows attempts to install drivers for those devices, then installs a few drivers, which in turn installs those hp services. You can reproduce this by reinstalling Windows to a HP laptop with an ISO from Microsoft. I hid the updates via the infamous "wushowhide.diagcab" diagnostic wizard thingy and that was the only way to stop the drivers from getting in.

[@sterntechdaddy]

K. Thanks. It didn't return on the laptop featured in the video, but its always nice to know HP has become more determined now. :P

[@vinscenzo2593]

Really thx I offered u a coffee ;)

[@sterntechdaddy]

Thanks!

[@NatetheNintendofan]

The only reason why I did this is because it took up too much ram

[@sterntechdaddy]

One reason is usually enough... :)

[@Irongenetics]

This shi.. is coming back after every windows update. I will never again buy an HP Notebook.

[@sterntechdaddy]

To be honest, I prefer Lenovo or DELL, but HP can be more affordable. Maybe if you stop Windows Update doing the Automatic Driver updates it'll stop doing it. Generally, I just think that if it's not broken then there's no need to try and fix it - so driver updates on a working computer really need a compelling reason. Graphics card drivers are the exception though. :)

[@Irongenetics]

@@sterntechdaddy I will switch to MacBook because lf this issue. ALL Notebooks are bloated with spyware except those ones from microsoft directly, which are more expensive than a macbook

[@sterntechdaddy]

I tend to plug in the vanilla Windows USB and erase the preinstalled OS. Laptops then tend to work rather faster... 😂😂

[@Eazy336]

can you make it more difficult to understand?

[@sterntechdaddy]

Absolutely - this is as simple as it gets. But if you're having trouble following then you'll probably need to pay someone to help you.

[@myKaryoke]

dont fool us. you are teaching BS.

[@sterntechdaddy]

How? While at not being particularly sinister, the service clearly exists. This video is a few years old so it might get removed by the HP unistallers now. But the video clearly shows the service exists regardless of what you imagine. If it does exist on your computer then you can leave it running if you want to. 🙂

[@sickmf1760]

All types of automatic system updates are disabled - the system restarted at night while I was sleeping and updated itself, by force. He reinstalled spyware xd They give us the right to choose, but they still use force.

[@sterntechdaddy]

System updates are generally a good idea, but the HP stuff could be a driver update - and you can turn those off separately to the main updates.