What is Digg?64 Comments
- MrsAgentSmith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Although the tip falls to caution (see article discussion) its pretty nice and painless (I hate going into the registry if I don't have to) so I digg it! Just for the curious there is an MS KB article here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q315539
- woodie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Useful, and I learned the Windows Key + Break shortcut, which I didn't know beforehand ;D
- JHawk24821, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2estacado - it's the "Pause" key, often labeled Pause/Break. It's next to F11, and F12.
- odysseus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Be careful when doing this. In particular, think twice about removing anything from Non-Plug-N-Play Drivers. You could render your machine unbootable.
See this page for more info:
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/77909774/m/1400925745 - MrKite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Unused device drivers don't load if windows doesn't detect the hardware. You're probably going to cause more problems by attempting this.
- toastgodsupreme, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So it's obvious most people doing this have no idea what's going on.
Let's say I install a plug and play device called Bob. Then I remove this device. When I plug it in again, Windows XP remembers what it was because it was installed previously.
When it's unplugged, and you do this trick to show hidden devices in device manager, you will see Bob as a ghosted icon. Why? Because it's a piece of hardware Windows remembers having once been on the computer. This way if plugged in again, Windows doesn't have to reinstall it, it just goes "Oh I remember this!"
You are NOT freeing up resources. These things are stored in the registry. There is no harm in removing these devices from device manager, but Windows will have to reinstall them again if you readd them.
Stop messing with your computers if you don't know exactly what you're doing, k? - Vektuz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While you're busy doing that, be sure to click 'show hidden devices' and check for starforce.
Remove on sight. - kagayaki1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1More people digging for the Windows + Break command than the actual tip? LOL
I didn't find any greyed out ones...seems no one else has either. No Digg. - DJFMA, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Gotta love the people who always say ditch windows, install OS X or linux. Wait, no... it get's old. :/
- aa3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1dugg for the [windows] + [break] command.
- Veritas77, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't hold myself out to be some expert, so maybe I'm missing something here...how do unused drivers use "valuable system resources?" I don't consider hard drive space a valuable system resource, not with 250GB @ $110 +/- $10. Other than that, the driver's not doing anything when the device isn't connected, so where is the waste?
- quentinp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Veritas77 - it is possible that they might take up a bit of RAM here or there, and may also increase startup times...but unless it's really crazy it shouldn't be too bad. Just tweaks really. Unless of course you have a bad device driver which could conceivably muck things up.
- BugMeNot2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Useful, and I learned the Windows Key + Break shortcut, which I didn't know beforehand ;D"
Me too. - GooseSwan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hrmmm....never knew about the 'windows' + 'break' shortcut. (I'm all about shortcuts and hot-keys.) :)
- AttroPheed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I guess this isn't really neccessary if you never add/remove hardware. Neat trick tho.
- zoomie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hmmm, interesting, but the only thing that was "washed out" were 23 instances of "Generic volume" which I guess is from all the times plug and unplugged a USB flash drive or External USB hard drive. Well, another 5 minutes of my life wasted..6 minutes after typing this
- ChrisGranger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm stunned that so many Windows users aren't familiar with the Win+Break combination. It's pretty handy.
It should go without saying, but be careful when removing unused drivers. Do not remove any you're unsure about. Better safe than sorry. - cvrefugee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0To artman:
Windows XP doesn't need drivers for digital cameras either. When I connect my camera a dialog box pops up and asks me what I want to do with the device.
You have used Windows XP, correct? - cryptoz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@artman: Macs are the same way. Except the OS doesn't let you config it so nicely, so you don't have to sit there and do it. And with XP, there's no pressure either. I'm running Fedora Core 3 and Windows XP, and my XP runs fine. Never had to tweak any complicated settings ever.
- finger99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Nice... I was tired of looking for ghosts in safe mode.
- odsae, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Lame. No digg. OH, that's why use linux is an even lamer response. This site used to have knowlegable people on here, but now everyone diggs everything, even meaningless XP tweaks that do not affect performance at all.
- TehSuper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Umm... i have a prettty old keyboard, thus no windows key ! any workaround?"
Right click on My Computer and click properties. - techlinks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't see any washed out devices either. Haha. First time seeing the break key used too.
- Bullsnot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Because Mac software only runs on mac specific hardware. Windows software has to run on a million different pieces of hardware. Abuse MS all you want, but I think it does a pretty descent job of finding the drivers and running any hardware I add. You would think Mac would be a better gaming machine, with only one standard on video. That's where most games run into complication issues, having to deal with the various video cards a PC user may be running and the hardware/software for those cards.
- plarp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1unused drivers and dll's do not take up resources... *sigh*
- WalterDirt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2"The better way:
Step 1: Install Linux
Done"
You forgot Step 2: Set aside 4 days to configure Linux (set aside 2 months if you're new to Linux)
I'm not bashing it, its true. I actually installed Ubuntu and for the first time enjoy Linux. Unless all you need is a web browser and email its going to take some time to figure out how things are done. - l3e3e7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"What is "break" in windows + break?"
Pause/break is a button. Mine is above the page up. - generalleoff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The best part about this is it showed me the Break key is actually used for something. I have never seen that key used.
- absoluteczech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0if i press windows button plus break does it break my windows??? :-)
- noghead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0meh...tried it, didnt find any unnessary drivers. Its worth a digg..but i rather not
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0better than clearing out old entries that you will never use again out of the registry
but yeah isnt as cool or as needed as made out too be just good for us anal retentives. - leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Give me a break. Linux, device drivers and desktop pc's are a match made in hell.
- ferozedude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I did that. i guess its OK . no problems as such. i deleted some unused drivers and now have a problem.
Although, when i now connect my pda to my computer, it connects as a network adapter rather an application provided by the XDA people. could someone explain why this is happening. is there any way to restore what i did or perhaps rectify this problem! - zoomie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I initially dugg this article...but I found it useless and will probably never use it again, I undugg it. I'm sure that each digg uses valuable system resources on digg.com
- scrapstyle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Has some usefullness on older Windows installations. My installation in only a month old so I have no use for this for the meantime.
I've known WIN+Break for a while put haven't been able to do it on my laptop.
Now I know it's WIN+PAUSE (fn+pgup). Now I learned something new again.
Whee. - bestdamnpics, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, totally appreciate the whole Windows+Break key thing. I do tech support and will be using that pretty often. On a Compaq laptop, though, the Pause and Break are the same key, so it's really the Pause key....
- dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Stop messing with your computers if you don't know exactly what you're doing, k?"
How else will people learn? I say keep messing around or you'll become a brainless drone! - luke--, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I had about 20 or 25 copies of my monitor driver that werent being used!!! and like 10 copies of my mouse driver and like 20 copies of my usb playstation controller adapter. maybe that was cutting into resources...
- hankosky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0lol "where is the break key"
Do you use a keyboard??? - tsmori, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Another great article for the masses with too much trust and not enough knowledge. I wonder how many people massively screw up their computer, especially their work computers and who will now need an actual IT type person to come fix it.
- elrawtic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"it still may be sucking up valuable system resources"
Windows already sucks up all my valuable system resources by itself. - imdamaverick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Why does windows feel the need to hide drivers anyway? They must want people to be ignorant about what's on their PCs.
- TAGG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Your PC will NOT be any faster after you will remove those devices - but you put yourself at risk that you will need to reconfigure removed devices or your system can crash on you.
Those devices are here for purpose - they store settings attached to them. For example consider Laptop - you can plug in and out your network card and Windows will remember your settings for it and will not ask to reconfigure it. - BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The Windows + Break key trick is worth more than the whole rest of the article.
- modian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you don't know where the break key is on your keyboard I wouldn't recommend doing this.
- UNL1M1T3D, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0pretty nifty, but I didn't have any unused drivers.
- FuManchu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I could be wrong, but my understanding is that this exercise is largely a waste of time. Except for the guy who got paid to write an article that sounds tres` ubergeek.
- jfoust2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm using Windows 2000 Pro. Every hard drive that's ever touched my system via USB and Firewire is still listed as a hidden device under "Disk drives." One disk drive with no name at all. Seeing how I'd often repair and clean systems by connecting their hard drives to my system with a USB/FW interface, that meant I had lots and lots of hidden devices. Oh heavens - I look under "storage devices" and there are several dozen "Generic volume" ghosted out. Can I zap them?
Same thing for various drivers associated with demo versions of programs and hardware. Why are they still there? I don't ever remember installing a fingerprint reader, yet there it was. And there were one or two garbage entries, too - with munged names of devices. Under Monitors, three ghost Default monitors and two PnP monitors, but no entry for my previous monitor that I know it recognized.
And there are dozens of entries under non-PnP devices - Ex. "winktr" - with absolutely no way to understand where they came from. I find one "PROCEXP" that does have something under the Driver Details button - why, it's from Sysinternals. And several entries from Symantec Norton Antivirus... long since un-installed, or so I thought. Why doesn't this surprise me (given the number of systems I've cleaned where NAV didn't un-install).
There's at least one I'm afraid to remove: "%SAUSBHW.SvcDesc%". And then there's Gear Security Service. From iTunes? Why does it need to be hidden? Is it hidden because there's no associated device - for now? Under Windows CE USB Devices, there are seven entries for Microsoft USB Sync and Compaq iPAQ USB Sync, all ghosted even though it's connected. I have one iPAQ. No wonder it syncs erratically.
Maybe there are no actual DLLs still being loaded into memory, but why is Windows bothering to keep a list? If there were DLLs still on the hard drive somewhere, is there also a list of those, too, so I can confirm the unnecessary files have disappeared? Is my startup slower because the system is checking to see if all these ghost devices are present? - rijet0711, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Umm... i have a prettty old keyboard, thus no windows key ! any workaround?
- estacado, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0What is "break" in windows + break?
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