Which outdated HP software on my PC can be deleted, updated or still used?

[msclfan]

Hello. I am currently going through old software on my HP Presario CQ56 laptop and trying to determine which I can keep, update, or just delete. Most of these programs were preloaded on my PC when I bought it in 2010.

Nevertheless, here is a list of possibly outdated HP programs on my computer:

HP Photo Creations (still works/update?)

HP Power Manager

HP Product Detection

HP Quick Lauch Buttons (need to keep/update?)

HP Set Up

HP Software Framework

HP Support Solutions Framework

HP Update (doesn't seem to work, but would be helpful)

HP Wireless Assistant (use every day/update?)

Please let me know which of these programs are still useful but may need updating (any links would be appreciated), or are useless and should most likely be deleted. Your assistance is most appreciated. Thanks.

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@msclfan 

I tried to help someone else with this a while back -- and they beat me up seriously for my help!  But ... I will try again.

My suggestion is based on what I have done in the past:

1) Make an image backup of the PC so, if it goes really bad, I have something to restore FROM

2) Remove everything I can that is HP -- but not all of it can be removed

3) Reboot the PC and if it works OK, then I'm done

4) If it does NOT, then restore it from the backup image and do the removals one at a time.

As for updates, once you get the stuff removed, if you run HP Support Assistant, it will find and allow you do download any new versions of the stuff you need.

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I personally prefer to use third-party Backup solutions as they tend to be both more flexible and more reliable than any built-in solutions.

Macrium Reflect (MR) provides a FREE version that can be used to image and restore partitions or entire drives.

What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR) from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
2) Run MR and choose the option: "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" to write a full backup to an external drive or USB stick
3) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD

My experience is that MR, when using the High Compression option, typically can compress the saved image file to about 50% of the USED space in the OS partition. This means if you have an 80GB OS partition, and 40GB is used, MR only needs about 20GB to store the image file.

I use this all the time and it typically takes less than 15 minutes to do the image backup and about the same time or less to do a restore.

Plus, MR has the option to Add a Recovery Boot Menu entry. This allows you then to boot into WinRE, and you can then use that to do a restore -- when you can't boot into Windows!

NOW, you have the means to restore a full working system from the external drive or USB stick in only a few minutes.