List of free Driver Update Software for Windows 7 & 8

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by ArchiveX, Jun 9, 2015.

  1. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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  2. pegas

    pegas Registered Member

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    What is this list when there isn't reviewed one of the best driver update tool - Driver Booster Free from IObit.
     
  3. wshrugged

    wshrugged Registered Member

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  4. pegas

    pegas Registered Member

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    Great job compiling the links but it brings nothing new to us. Most of these things happened back, 6 years ago and since then a lot of things changed. One can have objections to their business practices but as I said it's already past but their Uninstaller and Driver Booster are excellent tools with the high ratings from users.
     
  5. wshrugged

    wshrugged Registered Member

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    My only purpose was to inform those who may not know, you included. I think the behaviors are unacceptable; YMMV.
     
  6. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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    A list that does Not include IObit for...obvious reasons...:isay:
     
  7. ratchet

    ratchet Registered Member

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    Thank you for this! I've only occasionally messed with such tools (Other than the INTEL one which I check periodically.) and usually if a "supposed driver need" is found and I go to the manufactures site it always states that I do not need to update. However, the nice little app DriveTheLife successfully found an update and it went smoothly. The driver backup was efficient too!
     
  8. pegas

    pegas Registered Member

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    Well, it doesn't give sense as the same site (TheWindowsClub) reviewed IObit Uninstaller ;)

    You may read these comments http://www.filehippo.com/download_drive_the_life/comments/

    I'm not prioritizing IObit, all I wanted to say in this thread was that their Driver Booster deserved, because of its quality, to be included in the list, nothing more nothing less.
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2015
  9. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    imo driver updaters are junk. i would never install one on any clients pc.
     
  10. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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  11. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    This is an in incomplete list. For example, it misses Driver Easy and DriverMax.

    But, it does includes DriveTheLife, which I have used on and off for years, and works quite well. It used to be available only in Chinese. However, there are several other free Chinese driver updaters I use which are not available in English.
     
  12. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Agreed. I use both of them.
     
  13. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    My first experience with a driver updater was a bad one I got 6 viruses on download 60 more after it stared running(it started automatically after it downloaded) that was 4 years ago. Time to move on and try another one, it is true it is an in incomplete list. I have DriveTheLife, it may or may not cover all drivers. What I like is that it has a "Evaluate" tab in case you are installing a new operating system.
     
  14. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    why not just manually update the drivers then you dont need extra bloat on the system. at least thats how i feel.
     
  15. pegas

    pegas Registered Member

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    Something is on that. Nowadays when MS and PC vendors, especially laptop ones (OEM versions), cover with updates more than just OS, it seems a presence of a driver updater is redundant. I like Driver Booster but true is that it has found just a couple of MS drivers (mouse, keyboard etc.) needed to be updated on my machine. The all important drivers (graphics and I have two, Intel and AMD, BT etc.) were found to be up to date and I don't remember that I had done any manual driver updates. They all have come automatically via MS, Acer and graphics updates. So one can wonder why do I need a driver updater. I think it is good for older machines but you need to be careful because the latest drivers can have the opposite effect on such machines than desired.
     
  16. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    I was getting at was maybe I will have to try more than one driver updater to cover all the drivers, but probably not .
     
  17. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    imo just as easy to go to the manufactures site i.e. realtek, synaptics etc and get the newest drivers or follow a web site like station drivers or other similar ones who list the most updated ones to download. note sometimes station drivers has a bunch of pop ups but they have a great list of drivers.
     
  18. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    The reality is that just about vendors only provide driver updates for a limited amount of time after the release of a computer, quite probably around about six months or so. After that, they stop providing driver updates on their website and through their update software (if they actually have such a program). In very rare cases, is there are ciritcal driver updates they will publish therm, but other than that, they just focus on providing updates for newer models.

    This is the case too for any utilities the manufactuer supplies, e.g. diagnostic or power saving software. Even though such software will be continue to be updated, it won't take long before any new updates are only listed on the support pages for more recent models.

    With regards to drivers, another problem is that is also rare for a vendor to provide drivers for a more recent operating system than what came was preinstalled.

    With that in mind, driver update software can be quite useful if you want to keep your drivers up to date, and don't want to have to manually go to the individual vendor's website for different components in your computers to look for updated drivers.

    A notable execption to the above is Lenovo, as they provide excellent support for older models, including continuing to provide updates via their website and their System Update software. They also provide support for new operating systems, although for my laptops, the support is rather limited for Windows 8 and 8.1. They also provide changelogs for their drivers, so you can actually see what has changed when a driver is updated, so it's no longer a mystery. Also, for Lenovo users, there is Lenovo Drivers Management which is a Chinese driver update software which only downloads drivers supplied by Lenovo, and can supports more devices than their System Update software.
     
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