Updating Drivers

[SHRED]

In the past I would remove the old driver, boot to safe mode, use a driver cleaner program, etc...
In other words to make sure all traces were gone before installing the new drivers.

Lately I have just been downloading, clicking on the EXE, and installing without going through the above.
Haven't noticed any difference in performance.

Is thoroughly removing the old drivers still the preferred method?


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[PrincessFrosty]

Do a full uninstall old drivers from add/remove programs.
Reboot.
Install new drivers.
Reboot.

You only need to run driver cleaners if you're actually having problems with the above steps not working which is very rare now a days.

 

[Finkus]

In the past I would remove the old driver, boot to safe mode, use a driver cleaner program, etc...
In other words to make sure all traces were gone before installing the new drivers.

Lately I have just been downloading, clicking on the EXE, and installing without going through the above.
Haven't noticed any difference in performance.

Is thoroughly removing the old drivers still the preferred method?


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Only if you seem to be having problems. The CCC is supposed to identify if you are installing an upgrade and then remove the old drivers and replace with new, without the need for restarting if you're using Windows 7.

The fun and games only really start if you want to roll back to an older driver, which is a nightmare of 'mom' errors and CCC errors. If I roll back then I just nuke the thing from orbit until every trace of AMD/ATI is gone from my hard drive and start afresh.