Moms got computer problems again. HP Probook 6560b, Windows 7 Pro 64bit.
Lots of bloatware crashing at startup, Avast was disabled a month ago and it seems to be a free for all. Managed to get Avast going again, ran malwarebytes, removed tons of crap, and It's actually somewhat useable again, but it still has issues.
copied all the important cat videos, quilting patterns, favorites, etc. off the machine. Planning on a format and clean install. Everything works great when booting from a Linux mint live usb, but she wants windows.
Problem is my Windows 7 Pro disk seems to have vanished, and the key is not working on either my 7 home premium disk or Win 10 USB from my other laptop. Can't download the ISO directly from Microsoft without a retail key, the one I have is OEM. OK, fine. I figured I'd upgrade to 10, then download the media and install a clean version from that. Win 10 won't install, I need to either remove or disable HP ProtectTools Security Manager before it will go ahead. The HP installer says the software is not compatible with this computer, even though it was installed when new.
I've spent a most of the morning searching how to uninstall it, but can't seen to get anywhere. Any suggestions? I'm a little short of detcord.