HP has been caught silently installing software on its desktops and laptops that sends data back to the electronics giant. The software is called HP Touchpoint Analytics Service and is installed without asking permission from the user.
Several owners of HP computers discovered the software after they noticed their computer had performance issues. Some report that HP Touchpoint Analytics Service uses 2 - 300MB of RAM memory and uses a lot of CPU resources. It seems HP started deploying the software by mid-November.
In the description of Touchpoint Analytics Service is written, "Harvests telemetry information that is used by HP Touchpoint's analytical services."
Users who either suffer performance issues after the software was installed, or users who want to uninstall the software anyway, can get rid of the software by uninstalling it through Programs > Programs and Features.
Instructions for Windows 10 can be found here, Windows 7 users can find instructions on how to remove software here. Once there, find HP Touchpoint Manager and click uninstall.
