Windows 7 - How do I remove Lenovo HD Audio Manager?

I just purchased a Lenovo Ideacenter 330K desktop and I have run into a problem with the audio manager.

The system is using a standard Realtek Audio chipset and it has front and real audio jacks but the problem I keep running into is that unlike other realtek control panels, the Lenovo doesn't allow me to split the front and rear audio jacks.

The only advanced option that it gives me is to disable detection of the front jack.

There is no reason for this functionality to even exist. Realtek allows to split the two devices with it's audio manager but I can't find the files I need to remove and I have already tried to update the files which is supposed to uninstall the old driver package and install the new drivers but the audio manager is untouched.

Any help would be appreciated.

Running Windows 7 64bit Professional

Generally, the vendor supplied drivers are the best to use as each vendor customizes the software to how they implement the hardware. If you use non-Lenovo drivers there is a possibility that everything will not work correctly with the RealTek - this isn't with every vendor but most.

I use the drivers directly from the realtek site to update the drivers on the system. Lenovo's site is a disaster and their support is horrible. I picked up the machine because it was on clearance and thankfully the hardware is pretty standard with the exception of the Lenovo bios.

It's the control panel interface that still says Lenovo on it. When the Realtek drivers are updated it does an uninstall prior to installing the drivers. After it finished updating it looked like it took the drivers but the control panel still says Lenovo and features of the realtek audio chipset are still not able to be used.

I understand proprietary hardware / firmware / software issues well enough that this really shouldn't be one of them. I'm just trying to figure out how to gut the Lenovo software out and allow the realtek software to overwrite it.

If need be I can back the change out just fine but I'd like to at least test to see if this will work so I can split the front and rear audio like a normal realtek device is capable of doing.

I have a Lenovo Z560 ideapad laptop that I bought last year. I haven't looked at the control panel interface. I did go to the Lenovo site and update the drivers one time.

I went to the RealTek site one time looking for a driver for a user and they had drivers but they also stated that because of the individual implementations by PC/Motherboard vendors it was best to use the vendor supplied drivers. I do a lot of support on the Dell site and we have found that to be true - non Dell supplied sound drivers either do not work or do not work fully or correctly in most cases.

But, it's your PC and you can do whatever you want with it. Not all RealTek's can be split.