NVidia

[Rik]

You may remember that I asked some months ago about an NVidia folder on my D drive. As I have an ATI card, I'm not sure how it came to be there (installed with some software, I guess). 

Today, the icon has appeared in the task bar, with no option to kill it. I've done virus and malware scans, just in case, but the machine appears clean.

Anyone got any thoughts on what's happening?

[Glenn]

Nvidia are talking over, first your PC, then........... the world

[Glenn]

What chipset is in the PC?

[Steve]

How is getting there? Anything in msconfig

[Rik]

What chipset is in the PC?

Intel.

[Rik]

How is getting there? Anything in msconfig

Not that I can see, Steve.

[Glenn]

What make and model is the PC Rik?

[Rik]

It's a Scan 3XS, Glenn, custom build. How much detail do you want?

[Glenn]

If you have got it, the motherboard model

[Steve]

I wonder did they install the OS with a 'generic" image.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=15885

[Rik]

I wondered that, Steve, but the OS was installed to C, this was installed to D, so it would have been installed explicitly, or with some other software. That said, I can't remember what, if any, bundled software there was, but the folder date suggests it was installed at the same time as the OS.

[Rik]

Oh, and it doesn't appear in the run list your link pointed to. 

[Glenn]

Do you have the board number?

[Rik]

Asus P5W64 WS Pro, Rev 1.xx. Is that enough?

That's from SIW, Belarc gives:

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5W64 WS Pro Rev 1.xx
Bus Clock: 266 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 0701 03/15/2007

[Glenn]

No Nvidia chips there http://hothardware.com/articles/Asus-P5W64WS-Professional-Motherboard/

[Rik]

That's what I thought. The nVidia folder seems mainly to contain codecs.

[Glenn]

Do you have anything to do with nVIDIA PureVideo Decoder?

[Rik]

How would I find out?

[Steve]

I used to use that as plug in for WMP

[Glenn]

It's a software package, Rik, so take a look in add or remove programs.

[Rik]

It's there, but I don't have a shortcut to the software anywhere. Launching it from the folder, it's never been set up.

[Glenn]

 

[Rik]

I'm half inclined to ZIP the folder and wait to see what complains...

[Steve]

Is it the purevideo decoder you've found?

[Rik]

The software appears to be a multi-media player, Steve, ie music, photos, videos, the sub folder it's in is \Forceware\nstant media.

[Glenn]

E-Mail from nVidia Customer Care:

"The nStantMedia application is not officially part of the decoder pack. It's free trialware until the official launch of nStantMedia in the future."

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=48110

[Rik]

Stranger and stranger. What do you reckon, ZIP and wait for a complaint?

[Glenn]

It can't do any harm

[Rik]

That was my feeling. I just wish I knew how it came to be there.

[Steve]

I wonder if drive sweeper would find it? I always used to use that when upgrading NVidia drivers

[Glenn]

It may have been packaged with a different program, just like toolbars are these days.

[Rik]

I wonder if drive sweeper would find it? I always used to use that when upgrading NVidia drivers

Tell me more, Steve.

[Rik]

It may have been packaged with a different program, just like toolbars are these days.

That's my thought, maybe Nero or Power DVD.

[Supanova]

Whenever you download nvidia drivers it will create that folder to store the non-extracted files in. Some graphics programs that are specifically designed to run with nVidia cards also use this folder as a kind of dumping ground while they are installing.

If you are worried about installed drivers then you can use a driver sweeper, just google around and download a free one. I have used them before and they find all sorts of cr*p a driver uninstall doesn't remove.

As this folder is supposed to hold unextracted folders for use during an install you should be able to rename the folder/delete it without any problem or complaints.

If anything different happens do let us know because I would be curious about anything odd happening.

[Rik]

Thanks, will do...

[Steve]

Tell me more, Steve.

Guru3d Drivesweeper I used to use when Nvidia did not have a proper uninstaller for their drivers, so any upgrade would often fail due to the remnants left behind . It was also useful for ATI & Creative soundcards. I think in your case you got decoder software nStantmedia.exe so probably doesn't apply.

[Rik]

I did, Steve.