This document pertains to HP and Compaq Desktop computers with Windows Vista.
HP Advisor is a tool that provides easy access to computer information, including warranty details and connections to peripherals, such as printers. This document describes how to use the tools that HP Total Care Advisor offers, how to minimize the display, close the display completely, or change the default setting so the tool does not open on startup.
Opening HP Advisor
On some systems, HP Advisor opens at startup and displays on top of all other applications. To open HP Advisor manually, complete the following steps:
Click
Start 
.
Click All Programs
.
In the Programs list, click HP Total Care Advisor
.
Using HP Advisor
HP Advisor has two main sections: the upper pane, and the tabs below. The upper pane displays the contents of the tab selected at the bottom, including tools to help manage your computer and links to important documents and Web sites.
In addition, the product and serial number are visible on the lower area of main tabs. The purpose of each tab, and the contents of the pane it displays, are described in the following sections.
PC Health & Security
By default, HP Advisor opens to the PC Health & Security pane. You can return to this pane at any time by clicking the PC Health & Security
tab at the bottom of the HP Advisor window.
PC Health & Security instantly reports the status of security settings, battery, back up, computer performance, storage space, and the remaining warranty.
Figure 1: HP Advisor - PC Health & Security
1 - PC Health & Security tab
2 - Product and serial number area
The PC Health & Security pane contains several tools and links, which are described in the following table.
| Icon | Tool name | What it does |
|---|
 | Internet Connection | The Internet connection tool can help find a broadband or dialup package from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and can assist in setting up and monitoring an Internet connection. |
 | Warranty | The warranty tool connects to HP warranty information on the web, and can take you directly to HP Total Care for warranty services.
HP Total Care provides many different ways to get computer help, including on-line help documentation, chatting with a personal SmartFriend assistant online, and speaking with a customer service representative by phone. |
 | Printers | The printers tool allows you to manage and monitor up to 15 printers from the computer, all in the same place. This tool also provides information about printer supplies, such as ink cartridges and HP photo paper. |
 | Security | Security offers access to critical information from Norton Internet Security, if installed, or from Windows software, firewall, and security. HP recommends setting the firewall and internet security options to On
. |
 | PC Update | PC Update provides critical and suggested updates for drivers, BIOS, and some software. |
 | Backup | The backup tool can set up a backup schedule, and checks when the system and your important files were last backed up. |
 | PC Health | PC Health actively scans the computer to alert you of important updates from HP and to detect Hardware or Software conditions that may impact the performance of the computer. |
PC Action Center
Click the PC Action Center
tab at the bottom of HP Advisor to open the PC Action Center pane. This pane displays critical and recommended alerts, and recommends actions that can resolve potential hazards before they become problems.
Figure 2: Total Care Advisor - PC Action Center
PC Help
Click the PC Help
tab at the bottom of HP Advisor to open the PC Help pane. This pane provides access to HP Help & Support
as well as to System Information
and Troubleshooting Tools
.
Figure 3: Total Care Advisor - PC Help
The left panel under Get Help
contains links to categories of Windows Help & Support articles on a variety of topics. Clicking any link opens the Help & Support directory page for that topic, where you can find help articles on that topic.
The right panel contains icons that link directly to useful tools:
System information
provides information about the computer, such as the model number and serial number, which can be provided to a customer service representative for warranty service. System information also provides information about the software and hardware configurations on the computer.
Learning Center
offers tutorial information about basic computer use, including topics like security, networking, and general maintenance.
Troubleshooting Tools
are a highly useful set of programs provided by HP. In many cases, using these tools can solve computer problems without having to call customer support. Use Health Check to scan the computer for security and performance issues, use Internet tools to resolve connection problems, and so on.
Software, drivers, and BIOS updates
provides information on updating and troubleshooting software, drivers and the BIOS.
Recover Factory Settings
provides information on recovering a computer to its original factory condition.
User Guides
opens a folder containing the User Guides.
Experience Center
Click the Experience Center
tab to do new and different tasks such as viewing and editing photos and albums, listening to and managing music, and watching and creating movies and videos.
| NOTE: | Experience Center is not available in HP Total Care Advisor version 1. To check the version you are using, click the Preferences 
icon in the upper right corner and then click About HP Advisor
. |
Figure 4: Experience Center
Use one of the following options to navigate in the Experience Center:
Click a category icon or the arrows to rotate the icons on the carousel until the category displays in front.
On the HP TouchSmart computer, flick the carousel with your finger to rotate it, or tap a category icon or the arrows to bring the category to the front.
Select a category at the upper right to bring that category to the front.
To see hidden categories, click the drop-down menu at the upper left and select a category; that category icon is added to the carousel and brought to the front.
Figure 5: Experience Center navigation options
Figure 6: Experience Center - Protect my PC category
Minimizing HP Advisor
When HP Advisor opens at startup, you can minimize it by clicking the
Dock View
button
in the Advisor window. This displays HP Total Care Advisor in a reduced mode at the top of the Windows desktop.
Figure 7: Total Care Advisor in dock view
To minimize HP Advisor to the notification area, select the X
button in the upper right corner of the Advisor window.
Unable to Complete PC Update Action in Total Care Advisor (or Health Check)
There may be times when the PC Update section recommends an action that you cannot complete. To remove the task and the yellow triangle from Total Care Advisor, remove the reminder using the following steps:
Figure 8: Recommended Updates waiting to be completed in Total Care Advisor
Open Total Care Advisor.
Click the PC Action Center
tab at the bottom
Open the section that has the alert that you want to remove: Critical
or Recommended Alerts
Right-click the Update
, select Delete
, and click Yes
on the confirmation message.
Figure 9: PC Action Center tab
Total Care Advisor uses HP Health Check to gather information. If you use HP Health Check or you cannot delete an alert from Total Care Advisor, you may use the following steps to remove a recommended action from HP Health Check:
Open Health Check.
Next to the name of the task is a small clock icon.
Click the icon of a small clock, and select Never
(remind me later).
Click OK
and close HP Health Check.
Figure 10: Preventing the reminder from HP Health Check
HP Total Care Advisor always shows an update available
HP Total Care Advisor persistently shows that a critical or recommended update is available - even after you have installed the update or have selected Never (remind me later) from HP Health Check. The following steps rebuild a database file used by HP Update and HP Advisor to fix this issue.
Close Total Care Advisor by right-clicking the system tray icon and selecting Exit
.
Enable the viewing of hidden folders:
Click Start
and then Computer
.
If you are using Windows Vista, press the Alt
key to show the Tools menu.
Click Tools
and then select Folder options
.
Click the View
tab.
Select Show hidden files, folders...
Remove the selection from Hide extensions for known file types
.
Click OK
to close the window.
Browse the following path to open the hpadvisor folder: c:\users\%USERPROFILE%\appdata\roaming\hewlett-packard\hpadvisor\
Tip:
you can copy and paste the path into the user request line of an open window to open the hp advisor folder.
Click a file in the hpadvisor folder with the file suffix mdb.
Rename the file by clicking the filename and typing backup_ before the filename. For example, if you find the file HPAdvisorToDo.mdb, rename the file to backup_HPAdvisorToDo.mdb.
Rename any other files that end with mdb in the hpadvisor folder in the same way, if they exist.
Open Total Care Advisor.
Preventing HP Advisor from opening at startup
To change the default setting and prevent the tool from opening on startup, use the following steps:
Click the
Preferences
button
.
Remove the checkmark from the box next to Launch HP Advisor automatically on startup
.
Click Apply
, and then click OK
.
