It's a resource hog. It also is a part of the printer driver package. Excess baggage. It can be removed from add/remove programs in the control panel. You can always put it back with a simple download or from the HP recovery manager located in the start menu. It sounds like to me you have some file degradation. There's more than one thing that's wrong.
Run a check disc to find out if you have any damaged to the file system. If your drive suffered any sort of blunt force trauma, it may have scuffed the platter.
Run a check disc to find out if you have any damaged to the file system. If your drive suffered any sort of blunt force trauma, it may have scuffed the platter.