Vista - Uninstall previous version driver??

hi, last night i googled something and stumbled upon a thread saying you should always uninstall previous version of drivers when installing a newer version. i kept looking and there is pretty mixed opinion about it. so what actually happens to the previous version when you install a newer one over the top of it, would it not just remain in the driver store in case you need to roll back to that version.??

Hello Mitchell,

There are different opinions about this. Some drivers require to uninstalling the previous version before installing the new version and others don't do this.

Uninstalling the old drivers is required because they might run in conflict with the newer versions. I think, the best time to wipe the old drivers from computer is when everything run smooth on the new ones and you are sure you won't need to revert to the old ones.

Well, that's my two cents.

Cheers...

Thanks Martee, I updated some drivers (nvidea ge go 6100 vga / nforce chipset driver) as recommended updates by Hewlett Packard website for my computer but they instructed to download package and follow on screen instuctions, there was nothing said about uninstalling previous version

I usually keep a set of drivers for each hardware. As an example, right now I have 185.85 and 182.04 for Nvidia (I many be wrong on the numbers but you get my drift). I do this so if I uninstall the driver and after I install the new ones, I encounter problems, I can easily go back to the previous one. When I get an updated one, the oldest goes to the bin... always keeping 2

Chipset drivers, for the most part, can be updated w/o a problem of corruption with the new ones... YMMV and this is only from personal experience.

Audio & Video drivers need to be uninstalled before installing the new one. Usually, Audio install will advice of this, video won't. Now, with Vista I usually like to uninstall, restart pc fresh, once at the desktop, I look for the newer driver I just downloaded, right click on the file and use "Run as Administrator", otherwise, I have experienced a lot of issues... Again, YMMV and this is only from personal experience.

I game a lot so I try to keep my Audio, Video and Display driver up to date, but up to a certain point, If it ain't broken... Don't fix it!

thanks astalavista, it isnt broken the video driver is displaying "this device is working properly" and the previous version i have not uninstalled i suppose it is ok leaving it there otherwise why would there be a roll back option?

Mitchell,

Well, if your machine runs without problem after installing the new driver over the old one don't worry about it. As AstaLaVista mentioned "if it ain't broken don't fix it" we can say in this situation, too.

yea ok guys thank you very much for your help have a good day, Bye