How to cleanly install your NVidia drivers

I get this question time and again. I usually suggest DriverCleaner, a utility that's very helpful in ensuring that there are no annoying remains of possible old drivers left in your system. However, I'll admit that's only half the story. For the best experience and the fullest solution, I recommend reading this article, which describes step-by-step what you need to do to get rid of all issues, once and for all (well, until you have to redo it, I guess).

Note: The article was written with Vista in mind, but it certainly applies to Windows 7 in the same way.