HP Software startup problems

It is my wife's machine, Compaq CQ5210f (identical to mine as shown below) and these problems are driving her crazy. You might imagine what she is doing to me :( I have run the PCDecrap free software two times and during the first run I removed all HP junk--including the HPhelpupdater. Still having the same problem, I ran it again--no HP software shows. I have taken the check mark out of all HP items showing in msconfig and she still gets the HPhelpupdater. I have also removed all HP stuff from the Control Panel--no hp stuff is listed there now. The only way I can get rid of the helpupdater from her startup window( when she boots up) is to use the task manager. I am lost in paradise and wish to be rescued--I can't take it anymore. As always, TIA

You forgot to mention what the actual problem is;)
Is she getting an error message during startup? If so, what does it say?

Did you do a search for HPhelpupdater.exe and delete the file?

Did you check Services to see if it is running as a service? If so, disable it.

Search for this key in the Registry:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\HPHelpUpdater

If you find it, delete it.

Nick, you read my mind. I was going to approach the registry question next. And now that you have beaten me to the subject, I am hesitantly queasy about going into the registry. I have been there once or twice but only in steps and hand holding. Will you, or someone, lead me through the steps to do what Nick is suggesting. I will greatly appreciate it.

Midknyte negative on both of your suggestions--HPhelpupdater.exe is not on her machine so I guess the decrap software got rid of it. Thanks for your reply.

"HP" is Latin for "a lot of useless fluff".

Their software is notoriious for the way it esconces itself into the system and slowing down startups. From what I have read, HP has said it's Microsoft's problem, but Microsoft says its HP's problem for not conforming to Windows properly.

Couldn't agree more. Strange but I had removed all of the HP crapware from my machine several days before removing it from wife's PC. Her removal attempt was not as thorough.

I will try and produce an easy guide to safe Registry editing later today :)

As promised (phew!):

Nick, I want to say how grateful I am to you for creating such an apparent easy to follow guide to work in the Registry. I haven't tried applying it just yet but I will try it later and will certainly post back. Again, many thanks and I suspect I am thanking you for others as well.

You're very welcome :)

If there are any bits that are hard to follow, or if anyone has any suggestions for improvement, please let me know.

Nick, I haven't posted back before now because I wanted to try try try to get into the registry and then locate the key you named several posts above. I told you I was nervous about the registry even though your tedious work to produce the "how to" made the task easier to deal with. I saw the options as to which area to go into, I couldn't find the 'secret' passage way. Fear!!!
BTW, you asked and there were a couple of times I had to guess left or right button on my mouse to get to the next step but I chose the correct (right) button to press and succeeded in getting past that. Because I have already typed this response, I'll post it and then I am going to try once more. I wish I could be more exact in my description of these steps.

EDIT: OK. Tonight, I have been using my machine to practice on and think I have the correct steps to apply. When I can get on her machine or when she isn't home or using it, I'll apply this practice session--I hope.

Nick's method looks good. One thing to add is that a person should make a back of the registry if your going into it. A quick recovery method.

I export the registry to a "RegBU" file every so often but always when I am going into my computer to do something. Learned the hard way. :)

Hey greengoose1, he covers that in about the third window in his instructions. At least that is what I did.

This report is being made long after the hoped for remedies were posted.
Wife finally left home for awhile and I jumped on her machine.
I rebooted her machine to have my look at the window that shows (the one that is delaying her full bootup) and I find it is named: Help and Support Updater. Is that the same "thing" that we have been working on that I posted it to be: HPHelpUpdater? See attachment please.
Neither of these two items are shown in Services; nor in the registry. While on her machine, I went to Task Manager and found Help and Support Update running in the Applications. Of course, clicking on it allows the booting to take place. While there, I looked in Processes and found HPHelpUpdater running. Where could it be running from if her Registry or Services fail to show it. I hate that it has taken this long to get back to the beginning thread. Your help is still appreciated and I do hope there is some hope for her(and me).

When someone has taken as long as I did to respond to this ongoing problem; I can't complain loudly but I would like more help in this matter, if possible.
Your help is always appreciated. Any fresh ideas in answer to what I have posted just above?

HPhelpupdater should be in the runonce, but check the run also.

And look in the start folder also.

I can't find that rascal anywhere!!! It seems to be worse than a needle in a haystack. It could be that I am not checking in runonce or run incorrectly. What is the best way to check there. Start menu is definitely without it. I have probably spent another hour+ looking and reading on her computer. I feel inclined to let her do her workaround to get booted up. It isn't right but at least she can do that.

Might be crazy, but maybe you can reinstall it and use Revo to remove it instead of decrapifier.
http://www.revouninstaller.com/

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Operati...xe/td-p/166509

Quote:

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Guy's heres the solution.. uninstall the Hp support assistant from the control panel. then restart your computer.

when it comes back up again. go to start. then on the search box down at the buttom, type recovery manager then press enter. from the recovery manger window, select software hardware reinstallation then next. then look and select the hp support assistant then click next to re-install. restart your PC. try it folks.

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Thanks again for coming back to help me Midknyte. I suspect you are somewhat engrossed in her, my, ongoing problem. To do what we have done and still not be able to find that file; etc on her computer is very frustrating.
I looked into the possibility of reinstalling the HP software several days ago but could not find satisfactory links for downloading. I even thought about going back in time to an old Acronis backup where the software should be in full array and installing it. Haven't ruled that out--yet; only leaving it as a very last resort. If only we could find that lousy file and take it out to the firing squad and be done with it. I really don't know what else to do. The file is not to be found on her computer but yet we have to wonder what is triggering it to be active. The registry 'could' be the answer but I am not absolutely sure of finding my way around in there. Even doing a backup of it and saving that to her desktop is scary. I did use the backup once to restore the registry--as a precautionary measure just in case I had mangled something in the registry.

If all else fails, you could slave the drive onto another computer and then search for the file. It is possible that a rootkit is hiding it.