General discussion
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Topic
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HP Repair Centers.
LockedI recently sent an HP Pavillion dv9225 US to the repair facility. The heat sink and cooling fans were replaced under warranty. When I received the machine back and booted it, I noticed an increase in CPU and ram usage. I checked the running processes and could find nothing that should not be there, or that would account for a three percent increase in cpu time nor a 19 percent increase in used memory. Without hesitation I restored the computer from a network backup made just prior to shipping the laptop for repair and then called HP to find out what they had installed. They hung up without answering the question.
The OS is a retail installation of Vista x64. When I purchased the machine I departioned the hard disk and the wiped it with a DOD spec wipe to rid the machine of the factory Vista x64 software, crapware, and any spyware or other undesirable programs and only installed the drivers I needed. When I could find them, the drivers came from the hardware manufacturer and not from HP.
Since I am paranoid, I would like to pose the following questions for discussion:
1. What form of software could/would an OEM repair facility install on a customer computer that would run in hidden space?
2. Would such software have any useful function.
3. Why would a repair facility install software without telling the customer.