How to remove old device drivers in Windows 7

Speed Up My PC

If you find that some of your newly installed devices are not working correctly or in fact your Windows computer freezes frequently, you might want to consider removing old & unused device drivers in Windows.

remove unused drivers 600x427 How to remove old device drivers in Windows 7

Remove Old Drivers

Open Start Menu and right click on Computer and select Properties.

From the left side panel, click on Advanced system settings and click on Environment Variables.

Now under the User variables box, click on New and type

devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices

in the Variable Name text box & 1 in the Variable Value  box. This will set a flag to allow you to now view unused devices.

Now type devmgmt.msc in start search and hit Enter to open the Device Manager.

device manager uninstall 400x296 How to remove old device drivers in Windows 7

Click View tab and select Show hidden devices. Expand the branches in the device tree & look for the faded icons. These indicate unused device drivers.

Right click on it and select Uninstall.

That’s it!

GhostBuster may also interest you. You can also check out Comodo Programs Manager – it segregates Drivers, making it easier for you to identify and uninstall them.

Posted by on , in Category Windows with Tags ,
Anand aka HappyAndyK is an end-user Windows enthusiast, a Microsoft MVP in Windows Desktop Experience since 2007, and the Admin of TheWindowsClub.com, TheGeeksClub.com & WinVistaClub.com. Creating a System Restore Point before trying out a new software or a tweak is always recommended.

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