HP_Smart | Win10 (| both) deleted Printer Icons in Devices & Printers

Hi,

A few days ago I installed CCleaner and Wise Reg Cleaner on both Win10 (latest version) laptops.

A day or so later, all of the sudden there was the HP_Smart, totally out the blue ...

HP_Smart installed itself just like that without my permission, without any warning or notice, just ... nothing, and there is was!!!

I got NO printers, scanners or anything from HP. I got nothing, but really nothing from HP. And still that thing just installed itself and clearly all over the place... see image.



Fortunately I could uninstall it and it seems to stay away, which is not that obvious from what I've found on the net. HP_Smart seems to very pervasive and intrusive.

But that's not all. Now it turns out that all the original icons from my printers in [Devices and Printers] are gone and replace by some sort of generic HP icon... see second image.



So I got a few questions.

Who could've given permission to HP_Smart to install itself? Is that Win10 (indirectly)? Or some Win10 initiated (HP)driver that kicked in. If yes, how to turn off that self-initiating HP_Smart installment?

Is it HP that is so intrusive, or is it Win10 that is too stupidly naief and ignorent to crack down on misbehaving 3rd party developers on the Windows platform?

Most important of all, how to get back the original icon of my EPSON printer? Because I lost printer functionalty.

Note that I removed completely EPSON from the drives and reinstalled it but the original EPSON icon is not back, and lack of functionality persists.

I've also reverted back to a System Restore point of a month ago, well before the installation of CCleaner and Wise Reg Cleaner, but all the (Epson)printer icons stay put on the HP icon.

It looks like the printer icons have been removed for good. Anyone with the same experience?

Thanks

It is the Windows Store that is installing HP Store?! Well be damned! Without consulting the user first, I find that totally inappropriate, rude, arrogant and extremely disrespectful towards the user. I simply don't need any HP apps at the moment.
How to stop Windows Store to install without prior consent from the user? Is there any setting somewhere.
The main problem still persists; my genuine printer icons aren't back. Thanks for the reply anyway.

I just hope they will do something to reverse the damage HP Smart has done, probably to many systems already.

That's right! It is not only the icons that are damaged, also software, utilities, ... are gone in my case.
Double clicking the EPSON drive icon should bring up a mainly blue colored pane with all sorts of EPSON printer settings. Well, that is gone now. I got only an empty pane and mean really empty ..... like nothing, white colored ... bloody hell Microsoft.
Starting to think about buying a Mac, Chromebook or an Ubuntu machine next time.

You just right click on the HP Smart App > Uninstall.

Re-install your printer driver if required.

No big issue. There is a load of misinformation nonsense on the Internet.
MS/HP will no doubt sort the bugs out.

My previous printers/scanner were HP and had HP Smart installed, it is an App from MS Store.

So the issue with HP Smart is much more serious than originally anticipated. HP Smart is really noxious.

- - - Updated - - -

I uninstalled HP Smart and it stays away (for the time being), contrary to some other victims where HP Smart just re-installs itself and keeps on harassing and stalking its victims; criminal is that.
This HP Smart problem is just lingering around for quite some time now and Microsoft still has not come up with a solution. In fact, they should just temporarily ban HP Smart from the Store until they figure out what the problem is. But even that, the most basic step: pull the plug on the app, they don't do. Google and Apple would've done that long time ago.
What makes it so frustrating about Microsoft is that there is a long list of bugs, already since Win8 and earlier, which simply keep on coming back. MS does not learn, has only little respect for ordinary home user, and to make things even worse, people who had problems with Windows just keep on buying Windows computer because of .... legacy reasons!!! Windows is around since the middle ages and so many people are so familiar with Windows, much more than any other OS. MS is just financially thriving on that legacy thing.
To all Windows users worldwide, time has come to let go.....

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, by the way, I got something to add. The printer is network (WiFi) shared over a router. Two Win10 machines and one Win7 machine all have the EPSON printer driver and software installed and it works on all 3 computers. Though with some problems on-and-off on the Win10 machines (because of Norton (firewall) but no problems whatsoever with the Win7 machine which also runs Norton Firewall AND VPN.
In the next image the Devices and Printers pane of one of the Win10 machines can be seen sharing the EPSON printer driver from the Win7 machine. And that icon of the shared printer driver seems to be untouched. So it looks like HP Smart didn't get to it. Maybe noteworthy to mention.


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HP_Smart or Win10 (or both) deleted all my original Printer Icons in [Devices and Printers]?! - Windows 10 - Windows Latest Forums