Should I remove Hardware Helper?
What percent of users and experts removed it?
68% remove it32% keep it
What do people think about it?
(click star to rate)
How common is it?
Global Rank #8,515
United States Rank #5,896
Reach 0.0461%
Lifespan of installation (until removal)
< 39.36 days
1161.05 days >
Average installed length: 610.04 days
Versions
| Version | Distribution |
| 14.0 |
0.44% |
|
| 12.0 |
24.75% |
|
| 11.0 |
25.85% |
|
| 10.0 |
39.82% |
|
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Hardware Helper
What is Hardware Helper?
Hardware Helper is a software application designed to check the PC's currently installed drivers against a database of available drivers for a number of software and device hardware applications. If driver updates are available the software will automatically download them from the manufacturers web site and install them.
About (from Driver-Soft)
Hardware Helper™ takes the hassle out of adding or updating Windows devices. Driver updates from most manufacturers are provided at no cost, but they're often difficult to locate and match to your device. Hardware Helper locates updates for your devices automatically, backs up your drivers for quick reinstall, and auto... Read more
Overview
The most common release is 10.0, with over 98% of all installations currently using this version. During setup, the program creates a startup registration point in Windows in order to automatically start when any user boots the PC. A scheduled task is added to Windows Task Scheduler in order to launch the program at various scheduled times (the schedule varies depending on the version). The primary executable is named hardwarehelper.exe. Many users end up uninstalling this after less than a month of it being installed. The setup package generally installs about 18 files and is usually about 23.79 MB (24,943,634 bytes). The installed file LiveUpdate.exe is the auto-update component of the program which is designed to check for software updates and notify and apply them when new versions are discovered.
- Malware detected in the program
- Automatically starts with Windows
- The wisdom of the experts agree, if you don't use it you should remove it!
Warning, multiple anti-virus scanners have detected possible malware in Hardware Helper.
| hardwarehelper.exe (be43e14ce0651e71af3b26899cc584b5) has been flagged by the following 2 scanners: |
| Anti-Virus software | Version | Detection |
| AVG |
2014.0.3445 |
DriverCleaner.A |
| TrendMicro-HouseCall |
7.2.143 |
TROJ_GEN.F47V0824 |
Program details
URL: www.pchelpsoft.com/hardware-helper
Help link: www.pchelpsoft.com/hardware-helper/support
Installation folder: C:\Program Files\Driver-Soft\HardwareHelper\
Uninstaller: "C:\Program Files\Driver-Soft\HardwareHelper\unins000.exe"
Estimated size: 23.79 MB
Files installed by Hardware Helper
| Program executable: | hardwarehelper.exe (Malware detected) |
| Name: | Hardware Helper |
| Signed by: | Driver Information Technology Co. |
| Path: | C:\Program Files\driver-soft\hardwarehelper\hardwarehelper.exe |
| MD5: | be43e14ce0651e71af3b26899cc584b5 |
| (From the publisher) “Hardware Helper takes the hassle out of adding or updating Windows devices. Driver updates from most manufacturers are provided at no cost, but they're often difficult to locate and match to your device. Hardware Helper...” |
Additional files:
-
TaskTray.exe - Hardware Helper Task Scheduler
-
LiveUpdate.exe - LiveUpdate
-
CodejockControls.ocx (by Codejock Software) - Xtreme Suite ActiveX Control Module
-
XceedZip.dll (by Xceed Software Inc (450) 442-2626 [email protected] www.xceedsoft.com) - Xceed Zip Compression Library
-
HWiNFO32.dll (by Martin Malík - REALiX) - HWiNFO32 Client Library (HWiNFO32 Dynamic Link Library)
-
zlib1.dll - zlib (zlib data compression library)
-
aspr_ide.dll - ASProtect IDE Helper
-
unins000.exe - Setup/Uninstall
Behaviors exhibited
Scheduled Task
- HardwareHelper.exe is scheduled as a task with the class '{FBEEE37F-E8AB-484E-8F89-2BDC06653C02}' (runs on registration).
Scheduled Task (Boot/Login)
- HardwareHelper.exe is automatically launched at startup through a scheduled task named Hardware Helper.
Startup File (All Users Run)
- TaskTray.exe is loaded in the all users (HKLM) registry as a startup file name 'TaskTray' which loads as C:\Program Files\Driver-Soft\HardwareHelper\TaskTray.exe.
Resource utilization averages
Show technical details
| TaskTray.exe |
| Memory: | 7.28 MB | |
| Total CPU: | 0.0000653736% | |
| Kernel CPU: | 0.00003269% | |
| User CPU: | 0.00003269% | |
| CPU cycles/sec: | 33,434 | |
| I/O reads/min: | 31.94 KB | |
| HardwareHelper.exe |
| Memory: | 49.31 MB | |
| Total CPU: | 0.1796478439% | |
| Kernel CPU: | 0.10434302% | |
| User CPU: | 0.07530482% | |
| Switches/sec: | 4 | |
How do I remove Hardware Helper?
You can uninstall Hardware Helper from your computer by using the Add/Remove Program feature in the Window's Control Panel.
- On the Start menu (for Windows 8, right-click the screen's bottom-left corner), click Control Panel, and then, under Programs, do one of the following:
- Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall a Program.
- Windows XP: Click Add or Remove Programs.
- When you find the program Hardware Helper, click it, and then do one of the following:
- Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall.
- Windows XP: Click the Remove or Change/Remove tab (to the right of the program).
- Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Hardware Helper.
- If for some reason uninstallation fails, please install Microsoft's uninstall fixer utility which will help fix problems with programs that can't be uninstalled at support.microsoft.com.
OS VERSIONS
Win 7 (SP1) 64%
Win Vista 0%
|
|
HOW IT STARTS
Automatically starts? Yes
(Found in the run registry)
|
|
USER ACTIONS
 |
Uninstall it 68%
Keep it 32%
|
|
Windows
Which Windows OS versions does it run on?
| Windows 7 |
66.67% |
|
| Windows Vista |
17.16% |
|
| Windows 10 |
8.58% |
|
| Windows XP |
7.59% |
|
Which OS releases does it run on? |
| Windows 7 Home Premium |
50.39% |
|
| Windows Vista Home Premiu... |
13.60% |
|
| Windows 7 Professional |
9.70% |
|
| Microsoft Windows XP |
6.91% |
|
| Windows 7 Ultimate |
5.80% |
|
| Windows 10 Home |
3.34% |
|
Geography
67.12% of installs come from the United States
Which countries install it?
| United States |
67.12% |
| United Kingdom |
11.65% |
| Canada |
7.18% |
| Australia |
3.91% |
| Germany |
1.52% |
| New Zealand |
1.12% |
| Sweden |
0.88% |
| DK |
0.80% |
| Ireland |
0.80% |
| South Africa |
0.56% |
| Norway |
0.56% |
| Belgium |
0.48% |
| Spain |
0.40% |
| Switzerland |
0.24% |
PC manufacturers
What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?
| Dell |
32.74% |
|
| Hewlett-Packard |
30.95% |
|
| Acer |
12.70% |
|
| Toshiba |
10.91% |
|
| GIGABYTE |
4.11% |
|
| ASUS |
3.76% |
|
| Lenovo |
1.25% |
|
| Samsung |
1.25% |
|
| Intel |
1.25% |
|
| American Megatrends |
1.07% |
|
Common models |
| Dell Inspiron 1545 |
4.33% |
|
| HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook ... |
4.00% |
|
| Dell Inspiron N7010 |
3.00% |
|
| HP G72 Notebook PC |
2.67% |
|
| HP Pavilion g6 Notebook P... |
2.33% |
|
| Dell Inspiron N5110 |
2.33% |
|
About (from Driver-Soft Inc.)
Our company owns many years of software developing experiences, advanced production designing and researching experiences.
Publisher URL: www.driver-soft.com