[German]Just a brief note: I became aware of a mysterious HP Inc. driver that has been delivered via Windows Update and installs in Windows 10. Here are a few details I know so far.
I has been informed about that driver from a German blog reader who uses a HP notebook. The reader observed suddenly that Windows Update installs a mysterious driver without further explanations. The blog reader wrote within a comment (I’ve translated the text below).
Today I got a driver called HP Inc. software component 4.1.4.2923 for my HP laptop via Windows Update, without any comment or changelog. The Microsoft Update Catalog does not know this version either.
The only Google hit is HP Analytics… which reminds me of the malwa***, uh, telemetry from a year or two ago. In the event display, an HP Analytics section appears directly. It’s a weird driver that’s spreading out in the event viewer.
The telemetry thing mentioned was a HP Touchpoint Analytics Client I discussed within the blog post HP installs secretly HP Touchpoint Analytics Client telemetry client. That’s brought me to a research, to find out more.
Microsoft offers HP Inc. – SoftwareComponent
Searching the Internet, I found an entry for HP Inc. – SoftwareComponent in Microsofts Update Catalog. Microsoft provides older versions of this driver, with the following details:
hardware id: swc\hpq6001&pid_61adbe
Manufacturer: HP Inc.
Driver manufacturer: HP Inc.
Driver class: Other Hardware
Driver model: HP Radio Manager Device
More details are not available – the link Microsoft provides is dead. But I found an entry in HP support forum for an older version of this driver:
HP SoftwareComponent Update locks CPU
03-27-2019 12:11 PM
Product: Pavilion 14-X360 14-Ba12ng
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 (64-Bit)
Hi there!
I just did a few updates on my convertible (Pavilion 14-x360, 14-ba12ng). I had to reinstall completely and then spent 3 month without wifi, so there were actually quite a few. Anyway, since it installed the “HP. Inc – SoftwareComponent” Version: 2.1.8.1. (release 10/30/2018) and/or Version: 2.1.9.1 (release 2/1/2019) the cpu always stays at 3.44 – 3.48 GHz when the power cord is plugged it. It doens´t clock down anymore, even when the cpu-load is only 4% over a longer period of time. It only clocks down when I unplug the power cord. This creates a lot of unnecessary heat and the fan is running constantly.
It´s incredibly infuriating. Can you help?
It was also a driver delivered via Windows Update, as you can read here. So the questions: Has some of you also received this HP Inc. driver on your HP machines? Are you facing issues with this driver? Does somebody know what this driver is for.