In Windows 7, the offending executable is hpSmartAdapterHelp.exe (within Program Files).
So this is the module to find and add .bak to the name to disable it.
Thanks to forum members who posted the solution. I'm posting here because I didn'r know, for my current operating syatem - Windows 7 - which is the module name to find and disable. So I'm clarifying that point.
HP downloaded the module to my older HP laptop in December 2013. There is no power adapter for that model other than the one that came with it, which is working as well as it always did.
