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Useful Tool for Removing Old Video Drivers and Their Leftovers
« on: September 30, 2015, 05:16:13 pm »
I found this program to be very useful and time efficient. It is called Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU).
It currently supports only Windows OS (from Windows XP to Windows 10), but it can clean old video card drivers from brands such as nVidia, AMD, Intel and SurfacePro 3;D
It also cleans their leftover items such as registry entries, driver versions in the system folders (like the Driver Store) and also creates logs of files it has removed (mainly, some registry entries)!
It saves a lot of time and manual work and many errors can now easily be avoided with it!

What is your experience with video drivers? How hard it was for you to completely remove them from your system?
What other issues have you come across by trying to uninstall them properly?
What other issues have you found that video drivers can cause?

Do you know any noteworthy tips and tricks about dealing with bad video drivers??

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Re: Useful Tool for Removing Old Video Drivers and Their Leftovers
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2015, 10:04:26 am »
Hello, thanks, I tested this program on a client's PC and it worked quite well.

By the way here is another solution that also works for me:

1)Go do Device manager.
2)Locate your graphic card adapter driver, right click it and then click on Uninstall.

3)In order to make sure for that you have removed anything, boot your PC in safe mode by pressing F8 on restart for Windows 7, XP, Vista, 98. It will aslo work on the newer Windows OS`s(8, 8.1, 10), however you can  simply try holding Shift while clicking on the Restart button.
4)Google and Install DH Driver Cleaner Professional Edition. I downloaded it from howtogeek.com.


IMPORTANT: You should make sure you do this in Safe Mode for best results.
5)During Safe Mode select your driver's brand and click on Start. It should clean it up and allow newer drivers to install.

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Re: Useful Tool for Removing Old Video Drivers and Their Leftovers
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2015, 01:25:19 pm »
That is an okay alternative, but it's not specifically made for video drivers, so a user must be careful in selecting only "nVidia" or "ATI" for video drivers. Also, I see no options for Intel or SurfacePro 3 which probably means it's an older program with older database for what file leftovers to search for.
From another perspective, it might be useful for the removal of other kinds of drivers, but then again older audio drivers might be difficult to find for some users if the new ones don't work. That's why I recommend making a system restore point beforehand:
  • Right click on “Computer”.
  • Select “Properties”.
  • Click on "System Protection".
  • In the new window, click on "System Restore".