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HowTo: Deleting Your Old Printer Drivers

May 17, 2007 How To

There was a time when a new printer would stay at a single place for years. It would be used until it physically broke down. But, like always, things change; I am not sure if it’s for the best. Printers are being replaced with an upgrade every few months. As the brands and make change, so does the drivers. So excited are the procurers that they even forget to clean the remains of the old printer before installing the new. On the outset, there shouldn’t be any conflicts between the old drivers and the new one; but, you never know. Here’s a small guide to remove your old printer drivers before installing a new one. Use this guide at your discretion.

Procedure 1 (Windows XP)
Most printer drivers are installed along with an uninstaller. So, the printer drivers could be uninstalled in a few mouse clicks.

- Click on Start
- Click on Control Panel
- Single click or double click on Add or Remove Programs depending on your desktop setting
- It takes a while for the list of programs to get populated
- Choose your old printer driver from the list. If you have a Lexmark printer, look for Lexmark from the list and delete everything that starts with Lexmark unless you have any other gadgets from Lexmark. It is quite easy to figure out the old printer driver program as long as you know the printer brand.

Procedure 2 (Windows XP)
Some older printers don’t come with uninstallers. So, you may have to take the techie way of uninstalling drivers. Its simple, trust me.

- Click on Start
- Right Click on My Computer
- Click on Properties
- Select the Hardware tab
- Hit the Device Manager button
- Scroll Down to the selection that should say …. Printer driver and highlight the printer driver
- Click on Action from the menu bar and select Uninstall
- This should clean up your old printer’s drivers
- This procedure can be used for uninstalling any other drivers but do it under safe mode for best results. If you still have your old printer connected after uninstalling drivers, Windows might try to install default drivers which could cause uncalled confusion

Uninstalling old printer drivers in not mandatory but a good practice.