When your display drivers start behaving erratically, you should either reinstall them or update them to a new version. But before you can reinstall new drivers, its always better to get rid of older versions first. You can uninstall older graphics drivers from the Windows Control Panel, but sometimes the uninstaller that comes with your graphics drivers package simply fails due to one reason or another. In those blue days, you can use the freeware Display Driver Uninstaller (or DDU in short). It is a software that can help you uninstall NVidia or AMD display drivers completely from your Windows system without leaving leftovers behind (including registry keys, folders and files, driver store).
You can get Display Driver Uninstaller from the Guru3D website. The download is a portable application that can be run right-away. But the developer of this program recommends that you first reboot in the safe mode and disconnect your computer from the internet, and only then launch this application. Going offline is recommended to prevent Windows from searching for the missing drivers online.
In the Display Driver Uninstaller window, you can select your display driver name from the drop-down menu but most of us have only one driver in the list (either NVidia or AMD). You can also choose to remove PhysX, install folders and log files. It gives you three options – uninstall drivers & do not reboot, uninstall drivers & reboot and uninstall drivers & shutdown. You can choose anyone of these options and it will proceed to removal of all the display drivers and their entries from your system.
Upon restarting of the Windows, you can go online, visit the NVidia or AMD drivers website, download the latest versions of display drivers and install them on your system. If you do not want to install latest drivers for some reason, then you can also install drivers from the drivers CD that usually comes with your motherboard or computer.
Conclusion:
Display Driver Uninstaller is a useful application for the times when you are not able to uninstall display drivers from your system. It removes all the remnants of the display drivers from your system – allowing for a fresh, smooth and clean drivers reinstall.