Clean driver installation

Before you install anything, find out what hardware you have. Press Win+R → type dxdiag → Enter. In the window, you will see:

System Tab: CPU + RAM
Display Tab: Graphics Card (e.g., "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070" or "AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT")
Sound Tab: Audio Chip (e.g., "Realtek HD Audio")

With this information, you can find the correct drivers in Step 2.

Download drivers only directly from the manufacturer — no third-party tools like "Driver Booster" or "Slim Drivers". These are often outdated, bundled with adware, or unsafe.

Why DDU? If you simply install the new driver over the old one, remnants of the old driver will remain in the registry, graphics driver cache, and system files. This causes crashes, performance issues, and blue screens.

Here's how to proceed:

1. Download DDU from wagnardsoft.com.
2. Disconnect from the internet (prevents Windows from automatically installing generic drivers).
3. Start your PC in Safe Mode: Win+R → msconfig → Boot tab → "Safe boot" → Restart.
4. Launch DDU → Select device type (GPU NVIDIA / AMD / Intel) → Click "Clean and restart."
5. After restarting: Reconnect to the internet → Install the fresh driver from the vendor's website.

After installation: complete restart (not just sleep/hibernate).

Verify:

GPU driver: Win+R → dxdiag → Display tab → "Drivers" → Date should be current.
Audio: Right-click speaker icon → "Sounds" → Play test sound.
Chipset: Device Manager → System devices → no yellow warning triangles.

If everything is OK: Open GPU driver settings (NVIDIA Control Panel / AMD Adrenalin) and set desired optimizations — see our guides.