HP Application taking too much CPU and memory

[Longheart]

An application got installed with the HP drivers called ScanToPCActivationApp, and it is using an awful lot of computer power considering I'm using an I7-6700K machine.

I posted an example at http://imgur.com/a/uVE5H to demonstrate one time I saw this (though it isn't the highest amount it has used).

I don't know if I need to leave this application running or not, but what can I do to fix this?

I'm already disabled the application from starting, and running, but this seems to be causing the printer to not work/be visible to the computer. I usually have to reinstall the drivers and reboot to get to use the printer again.

[ShlomiL]

Hi,

Open the priner software, under Scan select Manage Scan to Computer.

Click Disable, then uncheck the box to start the rogram with the computer and check if you can use qqany feature with no issues (beside front panel scanning which been disabled, the proccess is only related to scanning from the printer front panel, it should not affect any operation done from the computer itself.

Hope that may help,

Shlomi

[Longheart]

As stated in the first message:

I've already disabled the application from starting, and running, but this seems to be causing the printer to not work/be visible to the computer. I usually have to reinstall the drivers and reboot to get to use the printer again.

Your solution does not seem to take this into account.

Basically, what I'd like is to know if there is a way to cause this application to not use gigs of memory, and lots of cpu power? I do use the scanner, and I'd like to keep using it.

However, the problem still seems to exist - when I disable the scan to PC activation application, the printer no longer responds to the computer in any way, and the computer thinks the printer is offline. Although the hp printer app can see the printer is on, windows itself sees the printer as offline.

[ShlomiL]

May I know your printer model please?

[Longheart]

HP OfficeJet Pro 6968.

[Longheart · Accepted solution]

Today, I was reinstalling my printer again so I could use it, and the scan doctor asked for the ip address after stating the drivers were not installed (even though I knew they were).

I then checked my zonealarm firewall logs just in case, and saw the printer was being blocked by zonealarm.

It seems that when the ScanToPCActivationApp is on, it's keeping a port open, and so zonealarm allows the connections, but if this application is not running, there is no port open, and zonealarm correctly blocks the connection.

In this case, because the connections are needed for windows to see the printer is online, this application had to be running to provide a way for the printer to connect to the computer.

Also, the print/scan doctor was wrong to reinstall all the drivers, and none of the printer troubleshooting pages suggested looking at firewalls.

So, in short, the solution is to stop this application from running, and add the printer to the firewall's trusted zone when I want to print (which may open up the computer to attacks through the printer, or if the printer's IP address changes).