Gnomie Mike Thomas writes:

I own a Hewlett-Packard computer with XP. Yeah, I know, but I was younger and more foolish then, and the price for my first-ever computer was too tempting. (It will also be my LAST computer with Windows on it, but that’s another story!)

For some time now - just how long I cannot remember, but possibly since installing SP2 - whenever I opened My Pictures, I would get a Security Center warning in the left-hand pane about “allowing Blocked Content.” It never explained just what the “Blocked Content” was, and I knew I had no malware according to the umpteen anti-malware programs I had installed. So I always made the four required mouse clicks to “Allow Blocked Content” to run. Then the left pane would fill in and thumbnails would appear on the folders in the right pane, and all was well. I could then make new folders, move, or copy or delete items at will.

Last night, I happened to click on the icon for the “HP Toolkit” above the right pane on the way to making the Four Required Mouse Clicks, turning off the HP Toolkit. The Security Center warning went away, and the Windows things filled the left pane, and the thumbnails appeared in the folders in the right pane.

Hmmmm…

Tonight I opened My Pictures and clicked the Toolkit icon as soon as it appeared. No warning about Blocked Content. I closed My Picturess and reopened it, not touching the Toolkit icon. Warning about Blocked Content appeared, necessitating the Four Required Mouse Clicks to allow anything to happen in My Pictures.

I went to Control Panel, Add and Remove Programs - just to see if the HP Toolkit was listed.

It was.

It is not, now.

I foresee far less wear and tear on my mouse button, now that the Four Required Mouse Clicks are no longer required.

Why MS decided that the “HP Toolkit” was bad and should be blocked, I cannot fathom, unless it is because the Toolkit duplicated the functions in MS’s own left-pane for My Pictures. Do you think it possible that Bill Gates and Co. would be that small and petty?

Surely not!

Please pass this along to anyone you know who owns a Hewlett-Packard computer with XP SP2, in case they would like their mouse to last a little longer.