Is Driver Cleaner necessary?
 

As a matter of faith I've used Driver Cleaner for years. I was told that it would solve problems; problems I've never actually had. Is it still advisable? If I skip this step will I suffer?

I never used it and never had video driver problems.

I've nexer used it and have never had problems just updating drivers, I think if your having issues you could do it as a measure and process of illimimation but that's about it imo

Not normally - I only use it when either install or uninstall fails.

I hope not cause I can't use it with iMac and Boot camp.
Seems to update fine as I get the new ver nr. and date in device manager.

Ask your video card manufacturer.

The only time that I have found it to be beneficial is when changing/upgrading a graphics card. When removing a graphics driver using the uninstall facility, certain files are not removed from the system, which could result in a possible conflict when installing the new card. However, even DriverCleaner does not remove everything, despite the maker’s claims.