Can't uninstall HWinfo

[melin]

Hi,

for a few days I've been having a major issue with my PC - I can't install new drivers; error message is alway 'one of the installers for this device cannot perform the installation at this time'. Some errors in the event log apparently point towards issues with the performance monitor, so I wanted to uninstall HWinfo and see if that changes anything regarding the messages in the event log or regarding my original problem. However, even though I already uninstalled HWinfo from the 'add or remove programs' feature that windows offers (I hope that's the correct translation) AND I also tried disabling all auto start programs. I also went into HWInfo -> Settings -> Driver Management -> Remove. Yet it's always started in my task bar when I start my PC, it's the only program left that I can't get rid off.

I don't know if that's related to my original problem or not, but I find it very weird either way. If someone has an explanation and/or a fix for this (or for my original problem!) that would be very appreciated.

Edit: For testing purposes I now also turned off all services except those from microsoft (via system configurator). Now I neither have any custom programs in auto start nor any custom services. Yet HWInfo ist still started on system start up. I didn't even know that's possible, I thought those were the only two ways for applications to 'start themselves'.

 

[Dalai]

AFAIK HWiNFO is started by a Scheduled Task, so I suggest to take a look at them.

[...] I though those were the only two ways for applications to 'start themselves'.

Give Sysinternals AutoRuns a shot. You'd be surprised how many different types of startups are possible...

Regards
Dalai

 

[melin]

AFAIK HWiNFO is started by a Scheduled Task, so I suggest to take a look at them.


Give Sysinternals AutoRuns a shot. You'd be surprised how many different types of startups are possible...

Regards
Dalai

Tried it immediately, you were right, there's a lot there. Can you tell me what the color coding means? I have a lot of yellow and red entries.

 

[Martin]

Check the Windows Task Scheduler whether this isn't listing a HWiNFO task that starts automatically.

 

[melin]

Check the Windows Task Scheduler whether this isn't listing a HWiNFO task that starts automatically.

Yes, it was there, thanks. The Tool recommended by Dalai already showed that and I was able to disable it. Now it's not starting up anymore. Still kinda weird that neither the .exe file nor the entry in the task scheduler were deleted by the deinstallation routine. Do you have any idea why that could have happend? Maybe it helps with my underlying problem. I'm guessing that somehow my windows installer or trusted installer don't work.

 

[Dalai]

[OT]

Can you tell me what the color coding means? I have a lot of yellow and red entries.

Non-existing files are marked yellow and the light red color probably means "without digital signature" or "without version information" or similar. I'm not sure, and unfortunately the included help doesn't mention the color codings either. HowToGeek has some more information on the tool and the colors: https://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson6/
[/OT]

Regards
Dalai

 

[melin]

Update regarding

[OT]

Non-existing files are marked yellow and the light red color probably means "without digital signature" or "without version information" or similar. I'm not sure, and unfortunately the included help doesn't mention the color codings either. HowToGeek has some more information on the tool and the colors: https://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson6/
[/OT]

Regards
Dalai

Nice, thanks.

Update regarding my original problem:
I finally got it after about 10 hours... for whatever reason (I certainly didn't do this manually) one registry entry which was specifically meant to enable/disable driver installation was set to the wrong value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DeviceInstall\Parameters\DeviceInstallDisabled was set to 1 and setting it to 0 fixed it for me.