mikeShriver

Several months ago, Costco had an amazing sale on HP all-in-one printers. That week, the helpdesk that I work at got hundreds of calls from users asking us to install the drivers for these devices. The device comes with a factory supplied CD-ROM that includes drivers for the printer. It also comes with about 200 MB of additional software: Imaging software, the HP ‘Solution Center,’ something called WebClips, and about eight other programs. I have never seen any of these programs used, and in fact, I couldn’t even begin to guess at the functionality that these applications are supposed to add.

Installing the drivers from the CD is a process that should be simple, and take 15 minutes at most. HP’s installer, though, automatically attempts to install all 200 MB of software that is included on the CD, dragging the process out to 45 minutes or an hour. It is enormously frustrating for an analyst who is measured by call handle times to have to sit and babysit this process. The easy solution is to plug the printer into the machine, turn it on and let Windows automatically install the driver for the printer, then take HP’s CD and place it in the microwave. This process is easy, and takes about 5-15 minutes, depending on how long you spend in a vengeful rage watching the CD meet it’s deserved fate. This will work 100% of the time, and results in a far more stable working printer.

I suppose that it is in the interest of self-preservation, then, that the CD has a large, and very scary looking warning printed directly on it outlining this exact process, and admonishing the user against this course of action:

Caution! The printer’s USB cable must be unplugged before proceeding!
Do not plug USB cable in until instructed to do so by the installation software!

I can only conclude that this is a deliberate gesture of belligerence on HP’s part. I can’t fathom how any company’s QA department could let software this poorly written get into the world is beyond me. I can’t even figure out why HP would have taken the extra effort to write and bundle this software, since it doesn’t seem to add any useful functionality.

The propagation of intentionally deceitful information to get a user to install software they otherwise wouldn’t is a defining characteristic of malware. In this case, the software (hopefully) unintentionally exhibits another characteristic of malware, the disruption of compter function.Any hardware that comes intentionally bundled with such destructive software, is not hardware I am going to recommend to anyone whose computer I am likely to end up supporting, and certainly not hardware I am going to purchase myself, even if there is a great deal on it at Costco.