Drivers - Clean Left over Files after Uninstalling

How to Clean Left Over Driver Files with DDU or Driver Sweeper​

   Information

This tutorial will show you how to clean driver files left over after uninstalling hardware such as: Graphic Card, Sound, Microsoft mouse and even PhysX using the free Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) or Driver Sweeper. Not cleaning left over files from uninstalling drivers can result in problems when utilizing the hardware.

   Note

Driver Sweeper is very easy to use. You only have to select the drivers you want to clean up.
The best way to clean drivers is to first uninstall the drivers using the official uninstallers, reboot in Safe Mode and run Driver Sweeper. However, rebooting and not going into Safe Mode also works, but can cause some files not to be cleaned.

What can it be used for ?
The current supported drivers are NVIDIA (Display and Chipset), ATI (Display), Creative (Sound), Ageia (PhysX), MMouse, Realtek (Sound), NEC (USB), Fresco Logic (USB), Marvell (Storage), JMicron (Storage), HP (Printer).

All the settings are saved in an ini file. Nothing is created in the registry, so it's possible to use it as a portable program. Log files can be saved to the hard disk and viewed as well. You can find the logs under the Tools menu.

System requirements:
Operating Systems - Any Windows version (32-bit and 64 bit) with Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 from Official Microsoft Download Center or higher installed.
Disk Space (Downloaded) - 5MB
Disk Space (Installed) - 20MB

1. Click on Download below to download the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) file to your desktop.

Download



OR


Download

   Note

If you wanted the older Drive Sweeper 2.1.0, then:


Download

2. Extract (drag and drop) the contents of the .zip folder into a "New Folder" on your desktop, and run the DDU or Driver Sweeper.exe.

3. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

4. Uninstall the driver from Programs and Features within the Control Panel as your usually would, restart the computer if needed.

5. Run DDU or Driver Sweeper, check the driver(s) you wish to clean, then click either the Analyse button to see what is left over or click Clean to clean the left over files and registry entries straight away.




6. When finished, you will be prompted to Restart the computer.

7. When the computer has finished restarting, you can now install the new drivers if you like.

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Uninstall a Device and Device Driver in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Roll Back a Device Driver in Device Manager

 

[bawldiggle]

Just ran "driversweeper_3.2.0.exe" through VirusTotal
Should I be concerned ? :shock:



I have uninstalled "Java" ready to install latest "Java" versionWhy would I install Java?
Java required to test NVIDIA driver through GeForce site.
Otherwise Java will be disabled

I uninstalled "Java 6" with Revouninstaller.
Deleted residual registry items but no files were "found"

What to do next ?

 

[Yard Dog]

Hello.. I just ran that and got 0/49 site clean. https://www.virustotal.com/en/url/9...e0d1db86fb9dff43826ce1ab/analysis/1382758044/

 

[Golden]

What to do next ?

Test it a few more times using alternatives:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/277740-online-scanners-scan-suspicious-files-your-pc.html

 

[newpgm]

Just ran "driversweeper_3.2.0.exe" through VirusTotal
Should I be concerned ?

View attachment 291188

I noticed driversweeper incorporated OpenCandy which Malwarebytes has flagged on computers I've scanned before. I've run several scans of my PC with Malwarebytes & MSE since installing driversweeper & didn't detect anything. But now that you've reminded me I might go ahead & remove it anyway.

Google driver sweeper opencandy & see results like this from Wikipedia:
OpenCandy has attracted criticism because of privacy concerns.[4] Past versions of OpenCandy were considered adware by Microsoft Security Essentials as they "may send user-specific information ... without obtaining adequate user consent".[5] OpenCandy have claimed that this is because another company used OpenCandy without the formal warning in their EULA.

Edit: suppose I'm not entirely sure that will remove OpenCandy tho.

 

[bawldiggle]

Hi "YardDog"
Interesting?
I downloaded "driversweeper_3.2.0.exe" by clicking on the "Download" link in step_1 of How to Clean Left Over Driver Files with Driver Sweeper
Saved to my desktop.
Opened "VirusTotal" and tested the downloaded EXE file
I am not an expert, just cautious.
After then testing "driversweeper_3.2.0.exe" with my own Bitdefender Internet Security + Malwarebytes both returned "driversweeper_3.2.0.exe" as clean.

Then ran "driversweeper_3.2.0.exe" ... and buried at the bottom of "Terms and Conditions" is "OpenCandy" with no option-out as far as I got with the install wizard, ie "Install"

I have had "OpenCandy" dumped on me before, and it was a pest to remove.

 

[Brink]

Tutorial updated with an older free copy of Driver Sweeper 2.1.0 that does not include OpenCandy, and is a standalone .exe that doesn't install.

 

[Kenna]

Just updated information.
Driver Sweeper has been replaced with Display Driver Uninstaller. The software also has extensive AMD support threads and NVidia supports as well. Same website. Different navigation. Might be worth a look and update.

 

[Brink]

Thank you Kenna. Tutorial updated for DDU.

 

[bawldiggle]

Thanks Kenna and Brink for a resolution

Display Driver Uninstaller DDUv96-[Guru3D.com].exe v9.6.1 (using mirror #1)

Today VirusTotal returned DDUv96-[Guru3D.com].exe as PERFECT 0/47 (rating 0/0)
SHA256 = 7c74b7c57903d01694697aee78af6034d06ac1fd1792dd88feaf9542b9beea58

Observation:
Curiously I just followed up on check sums of the notorious "DriverSweeper.exe" v3.2.0
Both Yard Dog's and my experience returned identical checksums
ie, SHA256: 6561ee6b52334a849bd0768ff626e0895b514a60903de720851d1a23ef0cab5d
BUT our VirusTotal results are vastly different ...
Yard Dog: 0/49
Mine: 3/47 ... rating 8/7

I don't expect an answer ...
Since using VirusTotal to check downloads my experiences have been a lot "cleaner"
I still check downloads with desktop AV and anti-malware.
All learnt from this forum

 

[Airbot]

Display Driver Uninstaller updated to 12.4. Has a different download website now as well.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...ver-uninstaller-ddu-v12-4-released-03-01-14-/

 

[Brink]

Thank you Aaron. First post updated.

 

[jcmwmatt]

Tutorial updated with an older free copy of Driver Sweeper 2.1.0 that does not include OpenCandy, and is a standalone .exe that doesn't install.

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