HP Share-to-Web

For a long time now I've had a Hewlett-Packard 4670 Scanjet scanner. The flat see-through one that can be separated into two halves, and works vertically on a stand. A really intelligent piece of design that you either love or loathe. And most of those who loathe it do so because of the software, rather than the scanner itself.

HP have something of a reputation for their software, and it's not a good one, unfortunately. A lot of the problems focus on an add-on to their software called Share-to-Web. If only HP had made the installation optional, but they don't (or certainly didn't); if you want the scanning software you have to have it at the same time. STW doesn't show up at all on the Add/Remove Programs list, so you can't take it off there either. And it has worsening compatibility issues with Windows XP post SP2; Microsoft have themselves confirmed the problems although HP seem to be in some sort of denial.

I rid myself of the irritant Share-to-Web icon as soon as I installed the software (by right-clicking the icon, properties, and selecting 'do not show') but when a friend asked me to do the same for her recently I couldn't. Right-clicking the icon (which isn't a shortcut incidentally, it's the actual folder that sits on the desktop) simply produced the endless hourglass and an all-but-locked-up computer. Googling the problem showed that there were lots of fellow sufferers, but not quite as many with solutions. So here's how I managed to be rid of it once and for all:

1. Logged in as an administrator, run 'msconfig' via the start menu. This opens the System Configuration Utility. On the Startup tab, untick the box for 'hpgs2wnd' and click OK. Now restart the PC, and when you get a warning come up saying that the system configuration has been altered, tick the box that stops it telling you again.

2. Open the Share-to-Web folder in C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\. Delete a file called hpgs2wnd.exe. Now click on the STW icon; The HP software starts repeatedly unsuccessfully trying to install.

3. Restart your PC again. Now the STW icon has gone, and you can delete the whole Share-to-Web folder. STW has gone, and the scanning software still works perfectly.

4. One thing left to do. There's the Share-to-Web Upload folder which is in the owner's 'Send To' folder (find it through C:\Documents and Settings\Name of owner. Send to is a hidden file, so you'll need to make sure that viewing them is enabled. The STW Upload folder can just be deleted.

5. It's not essential, but if you've got a registry cleaner it's worth running that.

I'm pleased to have finally uprooted this particular piece of software, and when I get back to my own PC I'm going to go through the same procedure and take it off for good. Hewlett-Packard are by no means alone in forcing you to have unnecessary software when you install something that you do need and it's a real pain. As for the 4670, it's been out of production for some time now, and HP have no plans to provide full support with Vista. That doesn't bother me, I've no plans to get Vista either. Despite the software issues, I'd still recommend it for anyone who's staying with XP.