Remove unused devices, clean Windows 10 drivers

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Windows tiene traccia di tutti i dispositivi in uso sul computer: ogni volta che inseriamo una pen-drive USB, ogni volta che installiamo un nuovo hardware, ma anche ogni volta che spostiamo un hardware, da una porta all'altra. Each device that came into contact with the computer, left a trace and, perhaps, some driver in the hard drive. Here, then, are some indications on how to remove unused devices and clean Windows 10 drivers.

Be careful, though: if you are not familiar with Windows, avoid trying the steps below!

Also, I suggest you create a Windows restore point: if something went wrong, it would be possible to go back.

Removing or moving hardware devices in the computer

We can notice, from the Windows Control Panel, that the system keeps track of all the hardware devices that have been installed in the past.

Going in Control Panel, System and security, System, Device management, you can view all devices currently installed on the system.

Ho installato, per tre volte, una scheda di rete Realtek PCIe GBE, tra i vari slot PCI Express (PCIe) di un computer. L'ho inizialmente, montata nello slot PCIE X4.

Warning! Prima di smontare il computer per effettuare operazioni all'hardware, è necessario spegnerlo e unplug the power plug!

Turning the computer back on and re-entering Device management, the card had the following name: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller.

When the computer was turned off, I later moved the same network card, bringing it into the slot PCIe x16.

Turning the computer back on and re-entering Device management, the card had the following name: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller #2. E' stato aggiunto #2 although the card was no longer present in the previous slot.

Finally, keeping the same precautions, I moved the network card to the slot PCIe x1, the most appropriate one.

Turning on the computer again, the card had the following name: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller #3. E' stato aggiunto #3.

Here is that Windows 10 has kept track of the various installations.

This situation also happens for each USB pen-drive, printer or scanner that we install on the computer (even without having #1, #2, etc ... on the description of the device).

Manually remove unused devices

Per mantenere pulito l'elenco dei dispositivi installati nel computer, è possibile agire manualmente oppure automaticamente.

L'operazione manual Cleaning unused hardware is recommended after uninstalling devices that used third-party drivers. In this case, you can remove the manually loaded drivers, now unused on the computer.

Let's go back to Control Panel, System and security, System, Device management. This time, however, we enable the display of hidden devices. By clicking, with the mouse, on View, Show hidden devices, you can also view other devices:

• those deliberately hidden by Windows, but still present;
• and also those already removed from the computer (displayed with icons in transparency), also called ghost.

Dall'elenco, possiamo quindi vedere come mai la scheda di rete si chiama Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller #3. However, previous installations have remained recorded.

To remove unused devices, we can then act manually. You have to click, with the right mouse button, on the device to be removed, then on Uninstall.

Quindi, bisogna dare conferma di voler rimuovere l'hardware.

You can repeat this operation for all the devices that we have used, but that are now no longer installed in the computer.

To restore the correct name of the network adapter, I also uninstalled (from Device management) the device currently in use Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller #3. the next time you restart windows reinstalled the drivers and the device got its name Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. We cleaned the hidden hardware (ghost)!

Remove third party drivers

Come suggerivo all'inizio del precedente paragrafo, l'operazione di rimozione manuale degli hardware inutilizzati (ghost) is also recommended to uninstall the driver from your computer.

If you are sure that you never want to use a device again (if Windows requires it, when there are third-party drivers), you can also uninstall the driver dall'hard disk del computer.

In questo caso, oltre a rimuovere l'hardware dall'elenco, Windows rimuove anche i driver dal computer. Per confermare la rimozione, cliccare sul checkbox Delete the driver software for the device.

To keep the PC clean, it is therefore possible to delete third -party drivers that we don't want to use anymore. For example: old printers, scanners, interfaces, etc ...

Automatically remove unused hardware

L'operazione automatic to remove unused devices (hardware ghost) is recommended when the removed hardware did not have specific, third-party drivers.

In fact, the programs I tried to remove devices no longer used only remove the devices, but not the drivers associated with them.

Among the various software I tried, to remove devices no longer used in the computer, I was struck by Device Cleanup Tool: freeware by Uwe Sieber. This software is freely downloadable from the Internet and occupies ... only a few kilobytes!

With Device Cleanup Tool, è possibile ordinare i dispositivi inutilizzati in ordine cronologico dall'ultimo utilizzo. Successivamente, si possono selezionare più dispositivi inutilizzati e rimuoverli in un sol colpo.

The first step is to download and start DeviceCleanup, in your version of Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit).

The software requires administrator privileges. Starting Device Cleanup Tool un privileges, with reduced functionality [Restricted], you have to click on File, Restart As Administrator.

E' possibile ordinare l'elenco degli hardware già rimossi dal computer, in funzione dell'ultimo utilizzo. Si possono anche selezionare più righe contemporaneamente.

After choosing the unused devices to delete, you can click on Devices, Remove selected.

Deleted devices will no longer be present in the computer registry, and will no longer appear in Device management, not even enabling the feature Show hidden devices. The drivers associated with them will still remain on your computer.

Conclusion

To keep Windows 10 clean from all hardware that has come into contact with your computer, but that you no longer use, there are two possibilities:

• remove unused devices, one at a time, from the Control Panel, in Device management, showing hidden devices;
• select multiple devices no longer used and deleting them in one shot, via utilities such as Device Cleanup Tool.

L'opzione manuale è preferibile per rimuovere dal computer anche il driver associato al dispositivo non più utilizzato.