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LANGALIST

By Fred Langa

Operating-system upgrades and resets sometimes leave behind nonworking, obsolete, or redundant device drivers that can open the door to future malfunctions.

Here’s how to easily remove any troublesome drivers cluttering up your Windows machine’s setup.

Plus: An AskWoody subscriber tries the “put the dead drive in the fridge” trick!

Salve Polinar’s Windows 10 fix didn’t go as planned:

I’m guessing you used the Reset/Keep my files option or the similar Fresh Start to reinstall/restore Windows 10. Alas, neither of those tools gives Windows a truly “clean slate” — both retain user files and some Windows settings.

I suspect a previously installed device driver was mishandled during the reset, leaving behind a nonworking, obsolete, or redundant driver.

This should be easy to fix. But for future reference, note that the Reset/Remove everything option usually avoids this kind of problem by setting up Windows with absolutely no leftover baggage from previous installations. For information and cautions on all three Win10 reset options — Fresh Start, Keep my files, and Remove everything — see “Removing bloatware and OEM mods from new machines,” AskWoody Plus Newsletter, 2019-12-09.

I’ll further assume that you’ve made sure your system is fully updated via Windows Update and your hardware vendor’s driver update/support site (e.g., https://www.dell.com/support/). And I’ll assume that your post-reset PC is functioning normally in all regards — i.e., nothing is broken or malfunctioning. If those assumptions are correct, the unknown device drivers are truly not needed, and you can safely remove them.

On the other hand, if Windows Update or your hardware vendors’ sites say you’re missing updates or drivers, install them! Likewise, if some PC component or peripheral isn’t working as it should, visit that device’s support site and fix the problem before making further changes.

When you’re sure one or more unknown drivers are superfluous, you’re ready to weed them out. But first, make a just-in-case system backup. Now you’re ready to dig in! Here’s how:

Start by opening Device Manager. Enter “device manager” into the Windows search box and select Device Manager when it’s offered.

In the Device Manager window, select the View menu in the upper toolbar and then click on Show hidden devices (see Figure 1). This will ensure that Device Manager shows you everything — including currently inactive devices that would otherwise not be displayed.

Figure 1. Clicking Show hidden devices will let you view all driver-related items, including inactive ones.

Unknown device drivers are easy to find. Look for an entry literally labeled Unknown device, usually located within a generic Other devices heading (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Typically, Device Manager clearly labels unknown devices.

If you don’t immediately see an “Unknown device” or “Other devices” label, poke around inside the other headings, expanding each listed device in turn — “Unknown device” should be in there somewhere.

If you still can’t find the unwanted device driver, look for entries flagged with a Windows error symbol: i.e., an X in a red circle, an exclamation point in a yellow triangle, or a question mark in a white circle. They can all indicate malfunctioning or potentially problematic devices and drivers.

When you find a troublesome device in the list, right-click it and select Properties. Next, select the Driver tab and then click the Driver Details button. You’ll see a list of the device’s drivers and their exact locations on the hard drive.

Device Manager might be able to delete the unwanted drivers for you. Under the Driver tab, select Disable Device (if it’s available) and then click Uninstall Device. If Windows can, it’ll remove all associated software drivers and settings for that device. Reboot your system, and the bad driver should be gone!

If that didn’t work, try manual deletion. In File Manager, navigate to the drivers’ locations, as given in Driver Details, and delete them.

In some instances, the driver files can’t be deleted because they’re in use or locked. Reboot Windows into Safe Mode and try deleting the files again. Safe Mode automatically disables third-party and non-essential drivers, making them inert and removable. (See the Microsoft Support page “Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10.”)

Once the bad drivers are gone, they should be gone for good — never to clutter your setup again!

Here are some additional resources that can help in this and similar situations:

That was the subject line of Neil Michaels’s urgent-sounding email, which was sent shortly after the LangaList item “An old-school way to revive a dead drive” (AskWoody Plus Newsletter, 2020-08-03) was published. That item discussed a last-ditch method for trying to revive a dead spinning-platter HDD — by putting it in a refrigerator or freezer!

I wrote back:

A short while later, I received this:

Glad it worked! Sometimes, the old ways really are still good!

Fred Langa has been writing about tech — and, specifically, about personal computing — for as long as there have been PCs. And he is one of the founding members of the original Windows Secrets newsletter. Check out Langa.com for all of Fred’s current projects.

Best of the Lounge

Everyone likes to get the best speed out of their PCs, but some really like to push the envelope. Heat is one of the major causes of system throttling, even in high-end laptops. Fortunately, making adjustments here and there can keep a machine running at its top performance. But in the posts listed below, Ascaris describes specialized techniques for cooling a gaming laptop. Are you willing to fly into the danger zone?

If you’re not already a Lounge member, use the quick registration form to sign up for free.

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