Program for removing drivers. Removing old versions of drivers from the Windows storage
It arises from the system quite rarely. For example, such a need may arise when replacing components or installing a new version of drivers from scratch. In this material we will look at several ways to remove old drivers.
Method No. 1. Uninstalling the driver through the Control Panel.
Some drivers can be removed through the Control Panel. To do this, open Control Panel and go to the “Uninstall programs” section.
After this, a list will open in front of you installed programs. Some drivers may also appear in this list. For example, here you can find AMD. In order to remove a found driver, select it in the list and click on the “Change” button (in some cases this button may be called “Delete”).
After this, the installer will launch, with which you can remove old driver from the system.
note that this method works, but not for all drivers. Therefore, if the driver you need is not in the list of installed programs, then you should use another uninstallation method.
Method number 2. Removing old drivers through Device Manager.
The second way to remove drivers is through Device Manager. To do this, you need to find there the device whose driver you want to remove and open its properties.
After this, a window with the properties of this device will open in front of you.
Here you need to go to the “Drivers” tab and click on the “Delete” button.
Method number 3. Removing old drivers using the program Driver Sweeper.
If the previous methods for removing drivers do not suit you, then you can use Driver program Sweeper. This program allows you to perform complete removal drivers from the system. This removes not only the drivers themselves, but also all traces of their operation. Keys in , temporary files, etc.
After starting the program, it is better to immediately turn on the Russian language. To do this, click on “Language”, select “Russian” and click on the “Apply” button.
After this, go to the “Analysis and Cleaning” section. This will display a list of drivers that Driver Sweeper has detected. In order to remove a driver, you must check the box next to it and click on the “Cleanup” button.
You can also select the driver and click on the “Analyze” button. In this case, the program will show a list of files that are related to the selected driver.
From this list you can choose which files you want to delete and which you don’t. Then click on the “Cleanup” button to delete the selected files.
As you know, quite often many users computer systems are faced with the problem of removing old or unused device drivers. This can be due to many reasons, including hardware conflicts and malfunctioning devices. This also includes installing more recent versions of drivers. This is where a logical question arises: how to remove the driver of a particular device?
What is a driver
Before you begin the process of removing a driver or updating it, you need to know what it is. Essentially this is small program, which ensures communication between the hardware component and the operating system, without which the device itself will not only not work, but the system may not even recognize it.
In some cases (especially when automatic system updates are enabled), it becomes necessary to change the driver version to a newer one.
View information about driver versions and files
Now a few words about what needs to be done before proceeding with the removal operation. First, you need to find out the driver version (especially when it was downloaded from the official website of the equipment manufacturer). It is very likely that the system has the latest version, and this is not the reason for the conflict or hardware failure. Then the problem of how to remove the driver will disappear by itself. There are several ways to do this.
For example, for Plug & Play devices or standard system components, you can use the DirectX dialog call (dxdiag command in the Run menu). True, here you can see the versions of the screen drivers, audio equipment and I/O devices (unless something else is installed).
However, in the question of how to view information and how to remove a driver, it is better to use standard Windows OS tools. In addition, this is the simplest and most proven method.
Removing drivers using standard Windows tools
IN in this case you must use the Control Panel menu, in which you select the “Device Manager” item. The name may change depending on the version of the installed operating system. Now just select the device you are interested in and call up the context menu, then use the “Properties” command. It will be there Full description driver version ("Driver" tab, "Properties" menu).
Now let's look at an example, say, how to remove an audio driver (or how to remove a printer driver). In principle, the formulation of the question does not matter, the scheme is the same. We carry out the procedures described above, but only instead of the “Properties” button we use the “Delete” button. The system will ask you to confirm the deletion, after which you can restart the computer.
If the printer drivers are standard and included in the Windows installation package, they will be installed automatically after a reboot. Otherwise you will have to install them either with original disc, or download from the manufacturer’s official website.
By the way, this method of viewing information about drivers is also convenient because here you can even find out the location of the files themselves. If for some reason the system cannot remove such programs, you can begin to resolve the issue of how to completely remove the driver in manual mode. To do this, you just need to delete files from the location specified by the system, as well as the corresponding registry keys. However, this is highly discouraged for inexperienced users.
Third party software
Today there are quite a lot of programs that can solve the problem of how to remove old drivers, automatic mode. One of these is Driver Sweeper.
This software has a lot of customization options, for example, filtering by equipment manufacturer, etc. But it is better to check the names of all manufacturers when starting, and then begin the process of analysis and cleaning. It will take a few minutes and will provide a report about outdated or unused (unnecessary) drivers on the system. The latter, by the way, can cause conflicts in the operation of the equipment, since the system itself alternately accesses one or another driver.
Don't be surprised if the program even finds drivers for integrated video cards or sound chips. Next, you need to click the “Cleanup” button, after which everything that the application found will be deleted.
Of course, an inexperienced user can do such things only at his own peril and risk, but, as practice shows, this program works absolutely correctly, does not cause crashes in the operating system and does not interfere with the operation of software and hardware components.
Automatic update
Among programs of this type we can highlight special utilities, intended for automatic update all drivers available in the system. The question of how to remove a driver does not arise here for one simple reason. The fact is that many programs are capable of removing old ones automatically before installing new versions of drivers. But most of them are like this software packages are paid. But the advantage of their work is that they apply directly to the equipment manufacturers’ websites for updates, so that absolutely all drivers will have the correct digital signatures upon completion of installation or update.
DriverHub – drivers for Windows
A free program that offers drivers for most popular devices, sorted by groups and operating systems. The program finds missing drivers, and also helps to update existing ones, when possible failures, allows you to correctly roll back to the previous state.
Driver Extractor – backup copy of installed drivers
The program helps to save already installed drivers on the Windows system to create a backup copy. The program will find all drivers that are installed on your Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or 10 system. At startup, the system is scanned, and after a while all found drivers are displayed in the window, displaying the date and device manufacturer.
Driver Talent for Network Card – driver database for network...
A free program that will help you find and install missing drivers network cards for your computer or laptop, running operating system Windows. The application will scan the entire system and install the most latest versions necessary network drivers.
Double Driver – driver backup
Very useful and simple program, which, in addition to viewing the drivers installed on the system, allows you to backup, restore, save and print selected drivers. The program analyzes the system and displays the most important details about the drivers, such as version, date, vendor, etc.
DevID Agent – driver for an unknown device
DevID Agent - update utility installed drivers and installations missing for the operation of computer equipment. Every device in Windows requires a driver and it is advisable current version, the program is useful precisely for such purposes.
Driver Talent – program for windows drivers
Driver Talent is a program for installing missing drivers in the system. Offers to create backup copy installed drivers, and also scans the system, identifies devices that require driver installation, automatically finds the ones you need, update or install them.
Display Driver Uninstaller is a program for removing video driver...
The utility is capable of “clean” removing the video adapter driver, including all folders, files and registry keys that were created during its installation. The developers recommend that before using the program, create a system restore point to avoid troubles due to a possible system failure.
DriverPack Solution Lite – installing drivers
A program for installing drivers for unknown devices, lightweight version, there are no drivers in the program database, installation takes place online. The program scans the system for devices for which drivers are not installed and offers to download them from the Internet.
GeForce Experience - driver updates and optimization...
GeForce Experience free application, will automatically remind you about driver updates for your video card from NVIDIA. The program allows you to install best videos settings for games. Now you can update the driver with one click.
Hello, friends. Today you will find out how to remove driver from your long-suffering computer. We will completely remove only unnecessary drivers that you do not need. This may be necessary if you have gotten rid of some equipment or are going to install the most new version"firewood" completely.
The fact is that there are many computer cleaning programs and we have already discussed some in detail (such as CCleaner , FreeSpacer...). They are excellent workers and get the job done, but they are not designed to remove drivers. They simply do not have this function.
You changed your video card or something, installed new drivers from the disk, but what about the old ones? But these old, redundant, unused drivers lie on the sofa in the depths of the system, smoke your cigarettes, drink tea with your cookies and, the scoundrels, they feel completely safe.
Not only do they lie like dead weight, but they also steal computer resources. After all, when connecting any equipment, a search takes place throughout the entire driver database, without discerning whether it’s old or young. An entire service is involved, the registry is looked through...
So let's come visit these radishes along with free, safe program Driver Sweeper. It is intended precisely for this noble purpose.
Find out how to remove the driver - in detail, thoroughly, step by step and in pictures...
First, let's define what a driver is. In a nutshell, this is a mini-program that helps the system interact and control equipment, be it a mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer or video card.
Drivers are desirable, which is what the system does by default, thereby speeding up and making life easier for itself and its users. But with this update, automatic or manual, broken drivers are not always removed by the system. This is what we will do.
How to remove a driver - download Driver Sweeper
I’ll honestly admit to you that I was worried when I launched the program for the first time, what if the driver was removed incorrectly or crookedly and then I wouldn’t be able to connect to the printer, for example, or the sound would disappear. But my worries were in vain. Driver Sweeper delicately threw out the old and extra drivers, without touching the relevant and involved ones.
Tested on very rarely used equipment. I connected a scanner, which sits idle for a year, mice from my other computers, a monitor... everything flies! Beauty! True, I forgot to measure how much space would be freed up on the hard drive, but that’s not the point. Not very much, because a driver is a mini-program. The main thing is to get rid of the ballast.
Still, you will use the program at your own peril and risk!(read comments to this article). Some other antiviruses are activated by Driver Sweeper, but I checked it personally - so far everything is in order with the computer and system.
Let's get started with installation and cleaning...
Now, if you haven’t checked the box, creating a shortcut on the desktop, go to the Start menu, find our program and run it...
We are met with a problem - a program on English language. With a slight movement of the hand we switch the interface to our native and powerful Russian language...
...don't forget to click below...
Here it is, the reward for killing several thousand nerve cells and burning kilocalories with three clicks.
Now you can adjust the program a little to suit you. Even appearance change by looking at "Miscellaneous" and "Theme"...
Now, finally, we press “Analysis and Cleaning”...
Here is a list of the main equipment manufacturers. Check the boxes next to the manufacturer whose driver you want to completely remove. By the way, I was very surprised when Driver Sweeper found and removed Nvidia video card drivers with my integrated Intel. I have no idea where they came from.
Now “Analysis” is on the right, below and then “Cleaning”...