Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

My HP printer indicates it is offline and won't print requests from my computer. It will continue to print as a copier. I could not get the printer to go online and contacted HP for help. I was informed my printer drivers were infected by a "clampi" virus and it would cost over $600 to correct. Isn't there another way to fix my printer for it to go online?

adhoccom wrote: ↑Wed Jun 18, 2025 10:41 pm I … contacted HP for help.

Ars Technica: Address bar shows hp.com. Browser displays scammers’ malicious text anyway.
Be careful about paying anyone other than a trusted company with local office so you can talk to them in person.

adhoccom wrote: ↑Wed Jun 18, 2025 10:41 pm I was informed my printer drivers were infected by a "clampi" virus …

The following Wikipedia article says: False-positive reporting of Clampi is also often used by tech support scammers to pressure individuals into sending them money for the removal of fake computer viruses. The information you received about your printer drivers may have come from scammers.
Wikipedia: Clampi (trojan)

This forum focuses on OpenOffice, so it is not a good place to find information about solving computer virus problems. A search in one or more of these linked websites may have better information for you. You can also read numerous horror stories there about HP support.
Bleeping Computer
Ars Technica
Gizmodo

adhoccom wrote: ↑Wed Jun 18, 2025 10:41 pm My HP printer …

HP is notorious for very bad customer service and for remotely disabling your printer for trivial reasons. You can find many recommendations from technical support websites like the ones above that when the time comes for you to replace your printer, almost any choice is better than HP.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ✏️ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

Some antivirus manufacturers offer a remote (and free!) virus removal service. I recollect to have used

https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHom ... ecall.html

in the past to have cleared a friend's machine. As far as I remember, the scan is slow, so you may need to let it run overnight.

You use that or similar at your own risk; I make the suggestion to use it in good faith.

Confirming the experience of others.

It is recommended to have one antivirus solution always running to intercept attacks on your system. In addition, it may be wise to have one or two "scan on demand" toolsets. A couple I have used, which both offer free licensing for personal use, are "Spybot Search & Destroy" and "Malwarebytes Anti Malware" (MBAM). They require little system resources and cause little advertising (admittedly MBAM can be slightly annoying at times), and together with a third "active guard" they should be sufficient to keep your system safe.

I heard that MBAM will remove Clampi, but I have no first hand experience for this particular critter so I cannot offer any specific guidance. Good luck!