What is/are the best ATI driver cleaner(s) today?

antdude · Feb 10, 2009, 09:17 AM

Hi!

Assuming after doing a normal uninstall and rebooting, is Driver Cleaner v1.5 still OK even though it hasn't been updated since 2006? What about Driver Sweeper?

Thank you in advance.

Dyre Straits · Feb 10, 2009, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antdude

Hi!

Assuming after doing a normal uninstall and rebooting, is Driver Cleaner v1.5 still OK even though it hasn't been updated since 2006? What about Driver Sweeper?

Thank you in advance.

Never use any of them here. I've used ATI cards since the early PCI 8 MB All-in-Wonder card. Just run the installer and it uninstalls the older files and installs the new ones.

The one app I do use a lot is CCleaner. www.ccleaner.com

karlotta · Feb 10, 2009, 11:21 AM

It depends, if you do RCs and betas, or you have some wacky install issue, they can help ( the drive cleaners ect...), but in using them you cant be afraid to do a format if it goes bad... I do not use them, i use the "catuninstaller" in AddRemove programs if i have some wacky issue on a install or removing a beta..then delete any folder form the ATI folder under C:\.
Some issues are from games that dont take to a new driver, they dont change the default render to the new one... (you have to delete the game config ect..) and the biggest issue is DotNET. Make sure you have the latest 2.0.x, a reinstall is a good fix

helpful stuff, is to turn off CF if you use it, before installing

UberRN · Feb 10, 2009, 11:28 AM

I would recommend not using any uninstallers. Both from personal experience and from what have posted, they cause issues when reinstalling the newer drivers and video card will not be detected. The ATI's uninstall is adaquate.

Dyre Straits · Feb 10, 2009, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karlotta

It depends, if you do RCs and betas, or you have some wacky install issue, they can help ( the drive cleaners ect...), but in using them you cant be afraid to do a format if it goes bad... I do not use them, i use the "catuninstaller" in AddRemove programs if i have some wacky issue on a install or removing a beta..then delete any folder form the ATI folder under C:\.
Some issues are from games that dont take to a new driver, they dont change the default render to the new one... (you have to delete the game config ect..) and the biggest issue is DotNET. Make sure you have the latest 2.0.x, a reinstall is a good fix

helpful stuff, is to turn off CF if you use it, before installing

Exactly! The one time I used a drivercleaner I had to format and reinstall Windows. Got kicked off another forum for this comment, too.

EYE4LYFE · Feb 10, 2009, 02:05 PM

I've used Driver Cleaner Platinum/Professional on two separate occasions and ended up getting burned both times. As a result, I had to restore from a backup image twice. The first time I used it, I figured I must have screwed something up in the selection or something. Okay, my bad. Saved all my game/app settings and restored. The second time around, I made sure that I did everything correctly. Same issue, driver installation failures. Never again!

ATI's Catalyst Install Manager does it right. When I reboot, no left over drivers are found and automatically installed. The system detects the same card as an unknown VGA device. That's a beautiful thing.

From there, installation of any Catalyst package is flawless.

MrsOldMX · Feb 10, 2009, 02:32 PM

DriverSweeper. never had a problem with it

caveman-jim · Feb 10, 2009, 02:48 PM

If the ATI uninstall doesn't give the desired results, I use the method described here.

Humus · Feb 10, 2009, 04:46 PM

I've never had a reason to uninstall any driver in many many years.

antdude · Feb 11, 2009, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EYE4LYFE

I've used Driver Cleaner Platinum/Professional on two separate occasions and ended up getting burned both times...

Is Driver Cleaner not free anymore?

Dyre Straits · Feb 11, 2009, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antdude

Is Driver Cleaner not free anymore?

The one known officially as "Driver Cleaner" is no longer free, no.

badboy · Feb 11, 2009, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsOldMX

DriverSweeper. never had a problem with it

QFT!
Driver Sweeper is the best there is

http://phyxion.net/

And its FREE!

nanohead · Feb 11, 2009, 11:14 AM

Since a mid year release last year, they made modifications to Cat installer's usage of .Net to enable to do a more thorough job of driver replacement.

I have used Driver Cleaner for years, and paid for the Pro version, but I've noticed that it doesn't really add anything anymore, especially with Vista's improved handling of drivers (including the elimination of Cab files) and the maturation of .Net.

The only thing that the driver cleaners can add any value to is the removal of errant registry settings, but it seems that Cat installer has cleaned up its act such that they might not be needed anymore.

Driver Cleaner is a much MUCH more thorough product than Driver Sweeper. But for Cat packages it might not be needed anymore. I do agree with karlotta though, that when you install RC or Betas, or even Hotfixes, these cleaners can have some value (as ATI always confuses us with how to use them, and when to use them).

I do use Driver Cleaner still with Realtek audio drivers, which occasionally bork themselves, and occasionally with ATI hotfixes. Other than that, don't use it anymore

Oversearch · Feb 11, 2009, 09:53 PM

Ya, I haven't even bothered uninstalling old drivers in quite some time. The only problems I ever remember having were with CCC and .NET back when CCC first came out. Other than that, I just run the installer right on top of the old drivers and it always works fine.

kn00tcn · Feb 12, 2009, 05:19 AM

DC is free if you kept the old files from like 2005, but i havent used it since 7.10/7.12 with an x800xtpe AGP, & that's about the time the omega drivers started failing to clean install (worked overtop previous omegas though, while all previous ones i DC'ed)

my xp & 2k AGP systems i left on omega 7.12 & 7.10, while this vista64 i always install overtop, no cleaning no nothing, same for xp64 here & a 4850 i put in at work with xp32

EDIT: you're the guy with the video crashing issue... well then... though didnt you find out that it was a directdraw issue?

antdude · Feb 12, 2009, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kn00tcn

DC is free if you kept the old files from like 2005, but i havent used it since 7.10/7.12 with an x800xtpe AGP, & that's about the time the omega drivers started failing to clean install (worked overtop previous omegas though, while all previous ones i DC'ed)

my xp & 2k AGP systems i left on omega 7.12 & 7.10, while this vista64 i always install overtop, no cleaning no nothing, same for xp64 here & a 4850 i put in at work with xp32

EDIT: you're the guy with the video crashing issue... well then... though didnt you find out that it was a directdraw issue?

Yeah, these old ones are easy to get BUT are they safe and still useful today? ATI drivers change and stuff.

Iam having problems with blue screens ( http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?p=1335793070 ) and people think I need to uninstall, clear out ATI crap, and reinstall) to fix it. I haven't tried it yet.

Falcon1 · Feb 14, 2009, 12:54 PM

I bought Driver Cleaner.net and never regret it!

antdude · Feb 14, 2009, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falcon1

I bought Driver Cleaner.net and never regret it!

Ah, it is not worth the money to buy that I rarely use or just use once. I don't think I need to use a driver cleaner now since I found a workaround and it is a bug in the newer ATI drivers.

howard stern · Feb 14, 2009, 05:51 PM

Drive sweeper works great, never had an issue using it and I upgrade to just about every new Ati driver. Perfect 10

Redshirt_X · Feb 19, 2009, 10:15 AM

If memory serves, there's a small but relatively effective uninstaller executable (aticimun.exe or so on) lumped in with the driver package itself. I haven't had to use it on the Vista side in many moons (it was part of my regular XP x64 uninstall routine), but thanks to a stupid driver rollback flaking out I think I need to now...

The PIT · Feb 21, 2009, 04:05 PM

At the end of the day if companies wrote their un-installers properly there wouldn't be a need for third party software.
It's just lazy sloppy programming which causes problems.

jam2k · Feb 21, 2009, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howard stern

Drive sweeper works great, never had an issue using it and I upgrade to just about every new Ati driver. Perfect 10

+1

Feb 10, 2009, 09:17 AM	#1	Advertisement (Guests Only) Login or Register to remove this ad
antdude An RadeANT! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: An Ant Farm Posts: 969	What is/are the best ATI driver cleaner(s) today? Hi! Assuming after doing a normal uninstall and rebooting, is Driver Cleaner v1.5 still OK even though it hasn't been updated since 2006? What about Driver Sweeper? Thank you in advance. __________________ Ant @ Ant's Quality Foraged Links (http://aqfl.net) and The Ant Farm (http://antfarm.ma.cx).

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Feb 10, 2009, 11:21 AM	#3
karlotta they are real Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: oregon Posts: 2,697	It depends, if you do RCs and betas, or you have some wacky install issue, they can help ( the drive cleaners ect...), but in using them you cant be afraid to do a format if it goes bad... I do not use them, i use the "catuninstaller" in AddRemove programs if i have some wacky issue on a install or removing a beta..then delete any folder form the ATI folder under C:\. Some issues are from games that dont take to a new driver, they dont change the default render to the new one... (you have to delete the game config ect..) and the biggest issue is DotNET. Make sure you have the latest 2.0.x, a reinstall is a good fix helpful stuff, is to turn off CF if you use it, before installing

Feb 10, 2009, 11:28 AM	#4
UberRN Newbie Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. Posts: 9	I would recommend not using any uninstallers. Both from personal experience and from what have posted, they cause issues when reinstalling the newer drivers and video card will not be detected. The ATI's uninstall is adaquate.

Feb 10, 2009, 02:05 PM	#6
EYE4LYFE Radeon R600 Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Great Lake State Posts: 634	I've used Driver Cleaner Platinum/Professional on two separate occasions and ended up getting burned both times. As a result, I had to restore from a backup image twice. The first time I used it, I figured I must have screwed something up in the selection or something. Okay, my bad. Saved all my game/app settings and restored. The second time around, I made sure that I did everything correctly. Same issue, driver installation failures. Never again! ATI's Catalyst Install Manager does it right. When I reboot, no left over drivers are found and automatically installed. The system detects the same card as an unknown VGA device. That's a beautiful thing. From there, installation of any Catalyst package is flawless. Last edited by EYE4LYFE : Feb 10, 2009 at 02:08 PM.

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Feb 10, 2009, 02:32 PM	#7
MrsOldMX Newbie Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 24	DriverSweeper. never had a problem with it

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Feb 10, 2009, 02:48 PM	#8
caveman-jim Deposed King of Rage3D Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 48,918	If the ATI uninstall doesn't give the desired results, I use the method described here.

Feb 10, 2009, 04:46 PM	#9
Humus Coder Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 6,268	I've never had a reason to uninstall any driver in many many years. __________________ [ Visit my site ]

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Feb 11, 2009, 11:14 AM	#13
nanohead Too many Radeons to list Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 362	Since a mid year release last year, they made modifications to Cat installer's usage of .Net to enable to do a more thorough job of driver replacement. I have used Driver Cleaner for years, and paid for the Pro version, but I've noticed that it doesn't really add anything anymore, especially with Vista's improved handling of drivers (including the elimination of Cab files) and the maturation of .Net. The only thing that the driver cleaners can add any value to is the removal of errant registry settings, but it seems that Cat installer has cleaned up its act such that they might not be needed anymore. Driver Cleaner is a much MUCH more thorough product than Driver Sweeper. But for Cat packages it might not be needed anymore. I do agree with karlotta though, that when you install RC or Betas, or even Hotfixes, these cleaners can have some value (as ATI always confuses us with how to use them, and when to use them). I do use Driver Cleaner still with Realtek audio drivers, which occasionally bork themselves, and occasionally with ATI hotfixes. Other than that, don't use it anymore __________________ Penetrator Gigabyte GA-MA970A-UD3, Phenom 960T Unlocked 6 [email protected], 8GB GSKIL Ripjaws, Dell 20" [email protected], Kingston 120GB SSD boot, Seagate 7200.10 - 320Gx2 in RAID 0 data Stormcrow ASUS Sabertooth 990FX, Phenom 960T Unlocked 6 [email protected] Corsair H60 Water Cooled, 2x XFX 7950 in Crossfire Water Cooled w Swiftech, 8GB GSKIL Ripjaws, 5x120GB SSD RAID 5 Array

Feb 11, 2009, 09:53 PM	#14
Oversearch Radeon R100 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Texas Posts: 30	Ya, I haven't even bothered uninstalling old drivers in quite some time. The only problems I ever remember having were with CCC and .NET back when CCC first came out. Other than that, I just run the installer right on top of the old drivers and it always works fine. __________________ Intel Q6600 @ 333x9 [] Giga-Byte P35-DS3R [] 6GB GSkill DDR2-800 4-4-5 [] Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB [] Corsair C300 64 GB SSD + 2x WD 320GB RAID 1 [] Pioneer slot-load 16x DVD [] Lite-On 32x12x40x CDRW [] ESI Juli@ -> Practical Devices XM4 -> AudioTechnica A900 headphones [] 23" NEC MultiSync EA231 WMI Monitor @ 1080p [] Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Last edited by Oversearch : Feb 11, 2009 at 09:53 PM. Reason: grammar

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Feb 12, 2009, 05:19 AM	#15
kn00tcn zero-zero Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Toronto Posts: 4,643	DC is free if you kept the old files from like 2005, but i havent used it since 7.10/7.12 with an x800xtpe AGP, & that's about the time the omega drivers started failing to clean install (worked overtop previous omegas though, while all previous ones i DC'ed) my xp & 2k AGP systems i left on omega 7.12 & 7.10, while this vista64 i always install overtop, no cleaning no nothing, same for xp64 here & a 4850 i put in at work with xp32 EDIT: you're the guy with the video crashing issue... well then... though didnt you find out that it was a directdraw issue? __________________ AMD/ATI Catalyst Driver Profiles OpenGL startup crash fix #1 / fix #2 (for < radeon 6000 cards?) better crossfire for Section8 Prejudice, Hydrophobia, UDK

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Feb 14, 2009, 12:54 PM	#17
Falcon1 Free Bird Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Bergen (Near Munich) Posts: 1,138	I bought Driver Cleaner.net and never regret it! __________________ My Blog \| My PC System \| My Audio Equipment \| Last.FM

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Feb 14, 2009, 05:51 PM	#19
howard stern Radeon Evergreen Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,959	Drive sweeper works great, never had an issue using it and I upgrade to just about every new Ati driver. Perfect 10

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Feb 21, 2009, 04:05 PM	#21
The PIT Radeon R700 Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: UK Posts: 714	At the end of the day if companies wrote their un-installers properly there wouldn't be a need for third party software. It's just lazy sloppy programming which causes problems. __________________ win 8 Asus p79x-pro 16gig Ram Intel I7 3930K Radeon 6970 Dell U311 Monitor Auzentech Forte Sheffield Weather Page Link For Pda's only

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