HP ProtectTools Security Manager features a system tray applet which is installed on Windows computers through the executable file pthosttr.exe. This is not an essential file for your Windows system, but it may be necessary to have it in place if you have HP ProtectTools installed. Very little information can be found that is relevant to the file, except feedback from customers who have this file. Security analyses performed by threat checkers online consider the file safe. Users’ issues with the file have more to do with CPU usage, as the file was found to be hogging memory and slowing down other applications. It is in light of this that a considerable percentage of customers who use the file choose to disable it, to enhance overall CPU performance. The file takes up about 27 MB RAM. The file comes with installed with HP computers. Standard location of the file is C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP ProtecTools Security Manager\ pthosttr.exe.

Most non-system processes that are running can be stopped because they are not involved in running your operating system. pthosttr.exe. is used by HP ProtectTools Security Manager, If you shut down pthosttr.exe, it will likely start again at a later time either after you restart your computer or after an application start. To stop pthosttr.exe, permanently you need to uninstall the application that runs this process which in this case is HP ProtectTools Security Manager, from your system.

After uninstalling applications it is a good idea to scan you Windows registry for any left over traces of applications. Registry Reviver by ReviverSoft is a great tool for doing this.

The ReviverSoft experts have not yet reviewed pthosttr.exe

A process usually a part of an installed application such as HP ProtectTools Security Manager, or your operating system that is responsible for running in functions of that application. Some application require that they have processes running all the time so they can do things such as check for updates or notify you when you get an instant message. Some poorly written applications have many processes that run that may not be required and take up valuable processing power within your computer.

We have not received any complaint about this process having higher than normal impact on PC performance. If you have had bad experiences with it please let us know in a comment below and we will investigate it further.

The first thing you should do if pthosttr.exe. is causing errors on your computer is to run a Windows registry scan with Registry Reviver If you are still seeing errors after this you should uninstall the program that pthosttr.exe, belongs to, in this case HP ProtectTools Security Manager