Specifications

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WHQL stands for Windows Hardware Quality Labs, and is a Microsoft testing procedure where drivers
are tested to check that they are up to scratch. Drivers that are WHQL certified have passed this (rather
time consuming) procedure but are no different from non-WHQL drivers with the same version number
(so 10.40 WHQL is the same functionally as 10.40 non-WHQL). WHQL drivers will say that they are
certified in the DXDiag application, but will not have VSYNC or overclocking options in their control
panels (that is, Coolbits will not work) as Microsoft specifically disallows these options in the WHQL
testing procedure.
If a driver does not specifically state that it is WHQL certified, it is not - and all of the links in the driver
questions link to non-WHQL certified drivers unless there are only WHQL drivers available, so that
Coolbits can be used on the largest possible number of drivers. You can tell WHQL drivers because they
will probably have WHQL in their file name.
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Q. How can I completely uninstall old NVIDIA GeForce or Creative Labs Annihilator
drivers?
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This is the standard advice from Creative on removing old drivers:
1. Run any uninstall from Add/Remove Programs. These frequently are not totally thorough but
should be done anyway.
2. After you reboot, delete these files if found:
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In C:\Windows\System: nv*.*, bc*.*, bls*.*, 3dbg*.* (the latter 3 only apply to Creative
drivers - also note that you should be careful not to delete certain Borland C++ files like
BC450RTL.DLL. Check in the file properties to see if they are Creative files.)
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In C:\Windows\Inf: drvdata.bin, drvidx.bin, 3dbg*.inf, nv*.inf
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In C:\Windows\Inf\Othes: 3dbg*.inf, nv*.inf
3. Run regedit and delete the following:
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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Creative Tech\Blaster Control 4.0
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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation
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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\Device\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\Blaster Control 4.0
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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\Device\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\NVTweak
(look under Controls Folder\Display as well as Device keys here for Blaster Control or
NVTweak keys)
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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
(look for bcdetect or NVInitialize entries on the right side and delete them but not the whole
Run key. Also, check the RunOnce key for the same entries)
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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OpenGLdrivers
(delete the RIVATNT entry on the right side)
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There is a program called NVCleaner available which can automatically remove all files and registry
entries. You can download the latest version at the author's website:
http://www.btinternet.com/~bobruck/download.html
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GeForce FAQ