Can't uninstall Ricoh Bay8Controller (smart card reader)

I can't uninstall the Ricoh Bay8Controller. I've tried disabling it in my Device Manager, uninstalling the driver, uninstalling the entire device, but it won't work permanently: after a reboot, the device shows up again.

I want to uninstall it, because it always shows up in the ‘Safely Remove Hardware’. Normally, this icon doesn't show (and thus doesn't bother me), but with this piece of hardware reinstalling itself, the icons keeps showing up. Too annoying for words to describe...

If it wouldn't show up I wouldn't mind having it installed. Besides, I might need to use the device (it's a smart card reader) sometimes. I just don't want to see it on my task bar where it annoys me.

When I had Windows 7 and 8 installed, the device could be disabled/uninstalled/invisible. How do I achieve this in Windows 10?

(There are some additional devices, such as a fingerprint reader, that will neither install nor uninstall correctly. However, they only show up in Device Manager, nowhere else, so I'm good with that.)

f14tomcat said:

This may give you more info.... Ricoh Bay8 controller - HP Support Forum - 4796141

Thanks, but I already found that with a simple search. Those pages and are about the drivers, where to find them and how to install them. I couldn't find anything related to uninstalling the device.

I can uninstall the device, but after a Windows Update I also receive drivers, including the drivers for this device. Thus: it gets reinstalled every time Windows Update installs something. I don't want to disable automatic driver updates through WU, so I can't permanently disable the device.