Driver update program?

Get drivers from the manufacturer when ever possible as Microsoft generic drivers sometimes screw up.

 

One of the things I like about Driver Checker is the ability to back-up all existing drivers before you do an update. I don't know if this is typical of most such programs but it was not for the other programs I looked at.

 

I had been using this program and found it to be just about useless. It rarely updated drivers and then was able to tell that it had done so. Every time I ran a scan the same drivers would show up as out of date or damaged. Driver Checker found more drivers that need updating and actually fixed them, and it did so automatically. For my money fixing what you find is more important than just finding.

 

yes driver magician (and driver genius)can do it fast .

i havent used it for update ,rather for unknown driver scans.Driver max can do updates well.

 

I decided to test both Driver Checker and Driver Genius.

When I first run the Driver Checker scan, it told me I had 4 out of date drivers, one of which was the network adapter. I updated that through the Windows Device Manager, and when I ran the scan again, I only had 3 left. That seemed promising.

I next tried the display adapter, and the Device Manager indicated there was an update as I had to reboot the system. Upon rescanning with Driver Checker, I still get the same display adapter update required. I left that and proceeded to check the other two in Device Manager; Windows couldn't find a more up to date driver than the ones already installed. What I find strange is the newer version number Driver Checker offered for the SiS PCI IDE Controller is lower than the installed version.

Driver Checker scan:


After this I tested Driver Genius. That reports I have 3 out of date drivers, one of which is the display adapter previously mentioned and the other is the SiS IDE controller, both of which Windows says is up to date. The third item, which Driver Checker didn't detect, was the Avance audio driver. That is available at Windows Update. The system device which Driver Checker detected wasn't in the list offered by Genius.

Driver Genius scan:


As I said previously, it would appear you do have to be cautious when using these type of programs.

 

That is strange so I will ask a very dumb question and please, no offence meant,,,,,,did you update the driver before rebooting? You did not mention if you did, just that you did a reboot. I had this problem a lot with the previous driver checker Driver Magic I think it was but my memory is going on me, (anyone know of a memory stick I can plug into my brain, that would be nice) but have not had issues (yet) with Driver Checker.

Hummm, that is disturbing, especially since I have been using the auto install update feature. Clearly assuming everything will be as it should is not the smartest thing to do.

Yes, you are clearly correct about this and its a valuable lesson. Thanks.

 

I ran Update Driver in Device Manager; the fact I had to reboot after doing that check indicated an update had occurred. So yes, I updated the driver using that method then rebooted as the system told me to.

 

I thought that would be your answer but had to ask anyway. Still its better than the results I was getting with the other program which recognized almost none of the updates. Did you check the driver itself (that the update had in fact occurred even if Driver Checker did not recognize it, perhaps the update failed installation)? Personally I do not know how to check these things directly so I was not able to test the unrecognized updates with the first program. I gather you check these in Device Manager, is this correct. If so how do you know where in device manager to find a particular driver?

 

You can check the properties of a driver in Device Manager. When you go to Device Manager, you can expand the listing for each component. In the example below, I have expanded the list for the display adapter; if I right-click that particular 'brand' I get options to look at the properties, disable, uninstall and, of course, update driver.

 

Thank you for the info, much appreciated.

 

Can any of these programs run on multiple computers with one licence? I'm thinking it would be handy if I was say building a friends laptop or reinstalling windows on a different PC (and I mean install the software, activate it, do the driver updates then remove it again - not leave it on the machine)