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SOFTWARE WARNING!Microsoft error adds HP Smart printer tool

We all know what’s impossible to avoid: death, taxes and computers that come pre-stuffed with software you don’t need – aka bloatware. I just hope we don’t need to add a fourth item to this list: Microsoft adding printing tools for printers you don’t even own.

Step forward the HP Smart app, which is a perfectly fine tool for printing and scanning via your phone. But it’s only perfectly fine if you actually own an HP printer. And many users who use a non-HP printer found it installed on their Windows computer at the end of November. You’ll see it in our screenshot (courtesy of the website Ghacks), looking pleased with itself under the ‘Recently added’ heading.

For a few days nobody had an explanation. Was it a hack? Surely it wasn’t a promotion that HP had paid for? Turns out it was more more cock-up than conspiracy. Microsoft finally admitted that the Windows 11 23H2 update is changing printer names and icons – most commonly to ‘HP LaserJet M101-M106’ – as well as installing the HP Smart app (www.snipca.com/48611).

That’s not the full story though, because users running older versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10 have also received the app. The problem seems more widespread than Microsoft is willing to acknowledge. Worse still, some people have complained that clicking the printer icon results in the error message “No tasks are available for this page”.

Microsoft is working on a fix, but until that’s ready you should check whether the app is on your machine – and if so, uninstall it. In Windows 10, open Settings (press Windows key+I), then click the HP Smart app followed by Uninstall. In Windows 11, click Apps, ‘Installed apps’, followed by the three dots at the far right and Uninstall. Remember these instructions the next time Microsoft smuggles something on to your PC.

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