Windows XP: Removing Unused Device Drivers

When you install a new piece of hardware on your computer, you generally install a device driver that tells the OS how to access the new device. Later, if you remove the hardware from your system, the device drivers will still remain installed. These drivers will continue to be loaded even though they're not being used, and consume system resources.

To find and remove these unnecessary drivers follow the instructions below:

• From the Start Menu, open the Control Panel folder.
• Double-click the System control panel.
• Click the Hardware tab, and press the 'Device Manager' button.
• In the 'Device Manager' window, from the View menu, select 'Show Hidden Devices'.
• Expand the various nodes of the device tree and search for the grayed out icons, which indicate unused device drivers.
• To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall.