As you know, almost all Windows modifications in terms of monitoring the current state of the installed hardware drivers are quite capricious. Not only do they not know how to update the control software on their own, they also save outdated or unused drivers on the hard drive, which leads to cluttering it with unnecessary files and conflicts between outdated and updated versions of drivers.
So this software needs to be disposed of. But how to remove an unnecessary driver from a computer so that the system does not suffer from this? Below are some simple methods that work in absolutely all versions of Windows, and some of them can be used even in outdated modifications if the standard tools do not work for some reason.
How to remove unnecessary drivers in Windows 7 with the simplest method?
Since drivers are among the system components responsible for ensuring that the hardware on the computer is working and correctly recognized by Windows itself, the simplest method is to perform a standard disk cleanup. You can call this tool either through the RMB on the system partition in the "Explorer" with the transition to the properties item, or through the "Run" console using the cleanmgr combination (in the second option, you will additionally need to select the partition for which you want to clean).
After pressing the clean button and finishing the pre-scan, simply check the box to remove driver packages and confirm the operation.
Note: if there is no such item in the list, additionally press the button to clean up system files.
Remove hidden devices and their drivers
Now let's see how to uninstall an unnecessary driver when it comes to unused or hidden devices for which Windows saves driver files, but they are completely useless.
In this case, you will need to call the "Device Manager" (devmgmt.msc), in the view menu, select the item to show hidden devices, and then through RMB on the selected component use the item to remove the device. If prompted to uninstall related drivers as well, confirm this action as well.
The nuances of detecting outdated drivers in WindowsXP
The above methods are quite simple, but on older systems like the XP version, accessing hidden devices can be quite problematic.
To make this possible, execute the combination shown in the picture above on the command line, and then go to the "Device Manager" and display a list of hidden hardware components.
You can do it much easier by executing the line shown in the image in the command console, after which a text file with a complete list of all available drivers will be created on the Desktop. Instead of User_Name, enter the username under which you are registered in the system. The location on the "Desktop" is indicated only for the convenience of further searching for the document being created (you can specify any other location).
Now in the list, find the component to be removed - a file with a name containing "oem" at the beginning of the name and with the INF extension.
How to remove unnecessary drivers in Windows XP and higher via command line?
When you have identified the required component, you can proceed to the next step. How to remove an unnecessary driver? Easy!
In the same command line, run the command shown in the picture above, instead of File_Name.inf, entering the name of the original component.
Remove drivers by publisher name
Now let's see how to remove unnecessary drivers in Windows 10 and below, if you want to get rid of the software of a particular publisher. In addition, the method using the command console is not good enough because even by the description of the driver in the test file, it is impossible to figure out exactly whether it is needed in the system. After all, this way you can also remove important control software, and the device for which it is intended will stop working altogether. But how to remove an unnecessary driver? To do this, you can use another technique that looks much simpler.
Go to Programs and Features, then sort installed apps by publisher. To simplify the search, you can immediately call up the list of publishers by clicking on the arrow button and select the developer whose drivers you want to uninstall.
The example above shows the removal of drivers for all Intel components. If necessary, on the same laptops, you can remove the accompanying driver packages supplied by the laptop manufacturer by selecting it from the same list.
As alternative software products, you can recommend the most common uninstaller programs like iObit Uninstaller, which not only guaranteed to remove existing software packages, but also automatically clean up residual components after removing the main ones.
Additional funds
Finally, let's decide how to remove unnecessarydriver, using third-party utilities for this, which make it possible to simplify the performance of such tasks as much as possible and protect yourself (and the system) from accidental removal of important components. The best solution is to use Driver Sweeper.
In a running application, first select a publisher, click the analyze button, then mark the unnecessary driver and use the clean button.
Note: if you doubt a component or don't know what exactly it is needed in the system for, it's better not to touch it, otherwise such rash actions on your part can lead to completely unpredictable consequences.
