HP Support Assistant

[Oooops!]

The HP Support Assistant has kicked in for an automated tune-up.
However, the last couple of times it has ran it sits on "Microsoft Windows Disk Defragment" for hours. Last time, I let it run for 24+ hours without it moving on to the next step of "analyzing for hardware and software issues".

Is there an alternative defrag to kick start this one, or should I just "cancel" the automated tune-up every time it attempts to complete the scan? Thanks!

[gloozit]

You can configure the assistant to run how you want it to:

Can I configure what actions HP Support Assistance takes? Yes. You can click Settings on the lower left corner of the HP Support Assistant window to specify when to check for updates, and specify which actions should be performed.

• Health Analysis - choose to install the updates automatically as recommended, or choose which updates to install and when to install them. You can also choose to never install the updates.
• Tune-up - choose to run Tune-up automatically as recommended and specify when it will run. You can also select what operations will be performed.
• Generic Settings - choose to participate in the HP Customer Experience Improvement program.

Personally, I don't use anything like that.
Windows updates will usually have any hardware updates for your PC, although they will run behind the HP site or the hardware sites.
I haven't been on an HP, with it's HP software on it, in awhile, but you should have an application that will just take you to HP for updates.
That's two ways to keep up with your hardware.
As for defragging and maintaining your PC, there are plenty of apps for that. I guess everyone here pretty much agrees CCleaner is good at cleaning junk files, the registry, controlling start ups, and uninstalling applications. CCleaner Slim 3.18.707 Download
There are some good defraggers in the downloads on the front page, most better than the internal Windows one, I like MyDefrag. MyDefrag 4.3.1 Download
Finally, if you want to stop the assistant from running, it is in your startups. You can disable it with CCleaner, in the Tools section. It's pretty easy.