Clean up driver before driver install?

[Guest UlfB]

Hi,I've read a lot of posts about graphic card drivers, where your'e recommended to first uninstall the old drivers. After that you should use some driver clean utility to remove any left over old driver files and data in the Registry.Why is that? I've never used a driver clean utility over the years.I usually uninstall the previous driver before installing a new version. But for many years I didn't even do that. I had no problems with this either. Why should I uninstall the old drivers before installing?I would appreciate your help on this.Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32

[Guest JIMJAM]

There is a concern that not all the old driver will be removed and will cause problems with the new driver.Its became one of those "things" that you just gotta do.Very few people ever do have problems but if they do, you know what the first thing they are going to ask?Just be carefull with Drivercleaner.I never had problems either and the first time I used it, it removed ALL my nvidia drivers. Not just the vid card but the ethernet,IDE and PCI drivers. Really screwed things up but man, my vid drivers were clean!Now they have made it a little bit more idiot proof but still be careful with any auto delete program.

[Guest UlfB]

Thanks JimJam,As I suspected - just a precaution. If you really wanna be on the safe side, you should reformat and reinstall OS before installing any new driver.I'll continue to not use any driver cleaner. Creating a restore point prior to installing a new driver is very convenient safety catch.Ulf B

[Guest JIMJAM]

Funny you say that.A common suggestion "fix" for any problem is to reinstall it.I could not get Rainbow6 Vegas 2 to regonise my 8800gt. From the forums, it appeared to be a common problem. The "fix" was to reinstall your OS and if that did not work, try different brands of ram. I shy away from any program that automatically "cleans" anything.And especially any registry cleaner.My freind tells me ,"Any time you see, ARE YOU SURE.... He says STOP.Go do something else like sleep and call me in the morning.:-) He especiallly gets upset when I use msconfig to close down services.Your computer is so fast it could care less anyways same with a bloated registry.I am far more likely to screw something up or kill a process that will. AND IT WILL eventually effect a program than I will ever notice in a game.

[bobbyjack 61]

If I may. I use a free version of Driver Cleaner Pro, and CCleaner. Both have saved my tail more than once. Years ago you never "cleaned" anyhting, but now programs and computers are much more complicated. No program uninstalls itself completely. All that leftover stuff just gets in the way. While I have reistalled my OS many times,and do not fear doing so, I'd really rather not. As always, every operator and system is different, and you have to do what works for you.Bob

[Guest UlfB]

>If I may. I use a free version of Driver Cleaner Pro, and>CCleaner. Both have saved my tail more than once. Years ago>you never "cleaned" anyhting, but now programs and computers>are much more complicated. No program uninstalls itself>completely. All that leftover stuff just gets in the way.>While I have reistalled my OS many times,and do not fear doing>so, I'd really rather not. As always, every operator and>system is different, and you have to do what works for you.>>BobThanks, Bob. >All that leftover stuff just gets in the way.Gets in the way of what?Ulf B

[bobbyjack 61]

Well, I'm no expert. I would not pretend to know all the technical jargon, or the "secret" inner workings of the boxes we play this game on. All I know is what works for me. I have learned alot about my computer from trying to get FSX to work. Lets say my computer is like my computer desk. My desks (I have two machines each on their own desk next to each other) are piled high with all kinds of what my wife would call "junk". Often, I can bearly see my CRTs. I can't find anything, and there isn't anyplace to put new stuff. Every time I install something on my computer, it takes up space. Every time I uninstall, there are still files and/or registery entries left over. Every time I go online,graphics,logos,and pages from every site I go to any saved in the Windows folder. Hundreds of MB get saved. Sure, you may have a wicked fast CPU, and for most things we do it's not a big deal,but in FSX it is huge. Why make the CPU sift through stuff it dosen't need to sift through. If I clean off my desk(not likely) I could be so much faster at what I need to do. I have Areo turned off. I try to shut down everything I don't need to have running. I have had old registery entries conflict with newer ones, so I clean out the registery. I get rid of as much stuff as I can. And defrag. How do you think the guys that score a zillion(sigh) points at 3dmark do that? They build stripped down machines and overclock the heck out off them. FSX is so demanding. People with far better machines then I, have trouble with it,as do I. Dang, it's fun.Bob