ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 Found this very interesting article on TechRepublicRemoving unused device drivers from Windows XP machinesDid you know that unless you uninstall a device driver on a Windows XP machine that it still may be sucking up valuable system resources? Here are step-by-step instructions on how you can view and remove these unnecessary devices.http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877_11-6017628.htmlI found dozens and dozens of hidden, unused, and duplicate drivers on my system. No wonder startup takes so long...I strongly recommend to take a full system backup before uninstalling any apparently unused drivers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 I followed the procedure most carefully - and found only one greyed out device - which was a USB one I will need.Thinking I may have done something wrong I repeated the exercise with the same result.Hence it looks as though I am clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 I have a few USB devices that are greyed out, but I know that I will attach these devices from time to time. I will not uninstall them. (But they will automatically reinstall when I plug in the device anyway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 I have just removed more than a hundred dead entries from the device manager - took me about an hour!I rebooted Windows, but I do not really notice any difference in the startup time. Maybe overall performance will improve somewhat?But anyway, I can see that my computer and all devices still run. I have eliminated some 70 'Generic Volume' entries under Storage volumes; now I have only the 12 partitions that I actually have. Under Processors I removed P3 support, and from Non-Plug and Play Drivers I removed another 50 unused ones. Almost every device on my system had a duplicate greyed-out one, which I all removed.I feel so clean now :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 VERY USEFUL. Saved to My Favourites just in case I ever need it. Completely clean at present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 Thank you. There were quite a few on my machine most of which I don't know enough about to mess with. But there were one or two drivers which were surplus, I don't think it will make much difference to the running though.Thos. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 I am at a loss before I start as I don't know what [break] is :unsure: 1. Press [Windows]+[break] to bring up the System Properties dialog box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 I am at a loss before I start as I don't know what [break] is :unsure: 1. Press [Windows]+[break] to bring up the System Properties dialog box.Pause Break top right hand of keyboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4may Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 I am at a loss before I start as I don't know what [break] is :unsure: 1. Press [Windows]+[break] to bring up the System Properties dialog box.Normally Pause/Break key (last key on right of 'Function Keys) but may be different on some keyboards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 Thanks Andsome and r4may.I did see the PauseBreak key but I couldn't believe that the method outlined in the article was as simple as that!I have seen the System Properties dialog box loads of times but I usually get to it by pressing Start > Settings > Control Panel > SystemI will in future use the keyboard shortcut mentioned in the article as it is more convenient.I will try out the method just to see if I do have any duplicate drivers on my PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 6, 2006 Report Share Posted January 6, 2006 7. In Device Manager, go to View | Show Hidden Devices.8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, which indicate unused device drivers.9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall.I carried out the instructions but I am reluctant to uninstall any 'unused' device driver until I know that the description of a washed out icon is what I see in my screenshot (attachment)?Does anyone know if these grey icons is what the article is referring to?If so perhaps grey should have been mentioned in the article! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 I cannot see any difference in colour in your screenshot. In mine they are visibly differentIn the Network Adapter section it is the RAS Asynch Adapter that is "greyed" out.On the Non-Plug and Play Devices section it is AVSync Manager, BBBBB, ENIMSR, Fs_Rec, and others that are outside of the view.On my XP system I have uninstalled all of them, but some (a few) were reinstalled on the next reboot.I do not really need to know what all these devices are, but I did take a full system backup before starting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 I cannot see any difference in colour in your screenshot. In mine they are visibly differentYes in my last screenshot the grey icons were all the same shade but in the this screenshot there are slight differences in the grey shading but I am not sure what this signifies? :huh: I do not really need to know what all these devices are, but I did take a full system backup before starting.I also don't know what all these devices are for but I expect I could find out if I googled them.One thing I did notice is that I have an exclamation mark next to the Parport entry!After a Google search I found out that this is related to the Parallel port.I will, of course, make a backup of my data (as usual) before uninstalling anything.I wonder why some Device Manager entries are a darker shade of grey to the others though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 I wonder why some Device Manager entries are a darker shade of grey to the others though?The darker ones are the valid ones, the lighter ones are "greyed out". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 The darker ones are the valid ones, the lighter ones are "greyed out".Thanks Pat.I have carried out the uninstallation of the unused device drivers with so far no ill effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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