old driver buildup-how2clean?
i have had 2k installed for quite some time now and have gone through several motherboards, videocards, soundcards etc there is a crapload of old drivers that are still in my windows dir and some even still load but wont work.
i have had 2k installed for quite some time now and have gone
through several motherboards, videocards, soundcards etc
there is a crapload of old drivers that are still in my windows dir and some even still load but wont work. is there a program out there that can
clean up old driver software?
through several motherboards, videocards, soundcards etc
there is a crapload of old drivers that are still in my windows dir and some even still load but wont work. is there a program out there that can
clean up old driver software?
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If you have changed all those things and are still running the same install I would recommend that it is time for a fresh install. You'll notice a major diffrence in your OS running after that.
The clean up you would have to do is just too much to do by hand and a fresh install will solve that.
S
The clean up you would have to do is just too much to do by hand and a fresh install will solve that.
S
Quote:If you have changed all those things and are still running the same install I would recommend that it is time for a fresh install. You'll notice a major diffrence in your OS running after that.
The clean up you would have to do is just too much to do by hand and a fresh install will solve that.
S
That isn't always an option if you have a store bought system.
The clean up you would have to do is just too much to do by hand and a fresh install will solve that.
S
That isn't always an option if you have a store bought system.
This is what I do when I want to clear out the remnents of 6 different nic's in my PC - Granted, I'm no expert, but here's how I do it.
Disclaimer: Althought I've never had to reinstall because of it, I don't know or guarentee that this will work on your PC. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Just PLEASE make a registry backup before starting.
Win2k:
Open regedt32, and browse to \HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum
Under Enum, there should be a bunch of sub-keys.
Depending on whether your PC is ACPI or not, it should have entries named ACPI, ACPI_HAL, DISPLAY, FDC, ROOT, PCI, etc.
Go through these, and for my machine, most of the drivers I wanted to clear out were under the PCI key.
I identified which key had the device I wanted to clear, then under Security/Permissions, change to full control.
Then it allows you to delete the key.
I don't know if it makes a difference to delete the individual keys that contain all the info on the device, but I just do what works for me.
Oh yeah, it might be a bad idea to delete the key with info on your boot drive's controller. I assume it would give you the STOP - Inaccessable boot device error if you did. I'm not about to try it myself, so I don't know.
Disclaimer: Althought I've never had to reinstall because of it, I don't know or guarentee that this will work on your PC. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Just PLEASE make a registry backup before starting.
Win2k:
Open regedt32, and browse to \HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum
Under Enum, there should be a bunch of sub-keys.
Depending on whether your PC is ACPI or not, it should have entries named ACPI, ACPI_HAL, DISPLAY, FDC, ROOT, PCI, etc.
Go through these, and for my machine, most of the drivers I wanted to clear out were under the PCI key.
I identified which key had the device I wanted to clear, then under Security/Permissions, change to full control.
Then it allows you to delete the key.
I don't know if it makes a difference to delete the individual keys that contain all the info on the device, but I just do what works for me.
Oh yeah, it might be a bad idea to delete the key with info on your boot drive's controller. I assume it would give you the STOP - Inaccessable boot device error if you did. I'm not about to try it myself, so I don't know.
Quote:Quote:If you have changed all those things and are still running the same install I would recommend that it is time for a fresh install. You'll notice a major diffrence in your OS running after that.
The clean up you would have to do is just too much to do by hand and a fresh install will solve that.
S
That isn't always an option if you have a store bought system.
Well If he has changed all that stuff then I really don't consider it a store bought system anymore, or you mean the fact you only get a recovery cd?
I never accept recovery cd's on my pre bought systems only full versions.
Mine point is simply that if you have changed that many components in a system a fresh install is warranted and will do far better for system stability than just trying to 'clean' it up.
S
The clean up you would have to do is just too much to do by hand and a fresh install will solve that.
S
That isn't always an option if you have a store bought system.
Well If he has changed all that stuff then I really don't consider it a store bought system anymore, or you mean the fact you only get a recovery cd?
I never accept recovery cd's on my pre bought systems only full versions.
Mine point is simply that if you have changed that many components in a system a fresh install is warranted and will do far better for system stability than just trying to 'clean' it up.
S
Just do a search for registry cleaners i.e. ( RegVac ,RegCleaner etc )
I use 2 or 3 different ones periodically and my system is as fast as when I first built it.
When I've installed and un-installed a lot of different stuff (software , drivers etc.) and run these cleaners, they will find remnants of junk left
behind.
And one cleaner will find something the other one missed.
Hope this helps :x
I use 2 or 3 different ones periodically and my system is as fast as when I first built it.
When I've installed and un-installed a lot of different stuff (software , drivers etc.) and run these cleaners, they will find remnants of junk left
behind.
And one cleaner will find something the other one missed.
Hope this helps :x
