Cleaning up C:\Dell\Drivers\

My C:\Dell\Drivers\ has reached about 1GB.

I suppose there are advantages in keeping these files? or should I just delete after installing?

However, quite a lot of drivers are superceded by later updates. It seems to me the sensible thing might be to keep just the latest version... but the folder names are cryptic numbers and it seems non-trivial to identify which are the older versions. Any suggestions?

 

The :\Dell directory is where drivers are extracted by default. Once you have installed the driver, it is generally safe to delete the folder. At least, I have done so many times with no repercussions.

 

I think that is basically right but there may be some scenarios where it is useful to keep the files there. Let me think...

1. If you ask Windows to roll back a driver? - I guess not. Presumably Windows keeps it's own backup of previous drivers
2. If you want to re-install a driver? - I am not sure if Windows keeps the files in it's own directories after you un-install a driver?? If not, does it default to look in C:\Dell\Drivers\? There are probably also two variants of re-installing a driver. (a) Just install a driver again ontop of itself.
(b) Delete a driver and then re-install it (don't we sometimes have to do that when trying to fix some problem?)

 

I save the EXE files that you download from Dell and file them according to the type of driver, e.g., network, video, etc. This way, I'll also know which files are superseded and can be deleted. As we all know, those numbers aren't particularly user-friendly.

After a few months, I'll just delete the entire Dell folder.

 

Just delete them tbh. The only reason for keeping them would be if you cant be bothered to download them again if need be - and with todays broadband speeds, i cant see downloading them again being a problem.