Advice Request Driver software recommendation needed

[Dave Russo]

Can anyone recommend to me the best driver software? Ive tried Driver Assist and its flaged as having malware and I have had Driver Booster and cant seem to back up my realtex wireless driver that for some reason goes bad
on me every 2 weeks or so

 

[DJ Panda]

Downloading driver software can cause more harm than good. If you are having trouble with a device get a new one.

 

[vivid]

Snappy Driver Installer.

 

[Dave Russo]

Snappy Driver Installer.

Ill give it a try thanks

 

[Dave Russo]

Downloading driver software can cause more harm than good. If you are having trouble with a device get a new one.

 

[Dave Russo]

Your probally giving me good advice,but not sure I can replace my built in wireless driver with a new one,guess Im just "green" in this area Thanks for your reply gl

 

[codswollip]

If you're not having device issues you should leave driver alone. If you are having device issues, go to the OEM site for driver update tools. I know of no general driver update software I would trust to update my system.

 

[WinXPert]

1. OEM Drivers from DVDs shipped with the computer
2. Drivers from manufacturer's website
3. Drivers based on brand/model/mobo/manufacturing date
4. Drivermax
5. Driver packs like DPS

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

This is the one i use. Nothing beats this thing DriverPack Solution - software for driver updates | Download drivers for 7, XP, 10, 8 and 8.1

 

[valvaris]

This is the one i use. Nothing beats this thing DriverPack Solution - software for driver updates | Download drivers for 7, XP, 10, 8 and 8.1

Hi wanted to see what Software this is and damn m8. The Norton Download Insight already blocks Downloads from that Site plus - If you manage to Ignore that! Power Eraser will Scan the System (Since PE will use the Reputation Network) here are the results:

<Process ID="44">
<File_Information>
<Path>e:\downloads\driverpack-17-online.exe</Path>
<FileVersion>1.0</FileVersion>
<ProductVersion>1.0</ProductVersion>
<ProductName>DriverPack</ProductName>
<Company>DriverPack</Company>
<Copyrights>Copyright © Kuzyakov Artur</Copyrights>
<MD5>60B95F63A8C93E3D5A2C54A8DBBA0975</MD5>
<SHA256>99DBE0E25B74E8811031507722F5E8F3B62C46B9F026C1DB2BC9EFF051FA3288</SHA256>
<FileSize>530552</FileSize>
<FileName>driverpack-17-online</FileName>
<Age>1</Age>
<NortonRating>1</NortonRating>
<Prevalence>4</Prevalence>
</File_Information>
<PID>2372</PID>
<SideEffects Count="1">
<File>E:\Downloads\DriverPack-17-Online.exe</File>
</SideEffects>
</Process>

After a restart of the System it did a Full Scan and deleted the rest:

Did a Second Opinion Scan with HitmanPro and APlus AV Solutions.

Sent File to Symantec for Threat result!

Best regards
Eli.

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

Hi wanted to see what Software this is and damn m8. The Norton Download Insight already blocks Downloads from that Site plus - If you manage to Ignore that! Power Eraser will Scan the System (Since PE will use the Reputation Network) here are the results:

<Process ID="44">
<File_Information>
<Path>e:\downloads\driverpack-17-online.exe</Path>
<FileVersion>1.0</FileVersion>
<ProductVersion>1.0</ProductVersion>
<ProductName>DriverPack</ProductName>
<Company>DriverPack</Company>
<Copyrights>Copyright © Kuzyakov Artur</Copyrights>
<MD5>60B95F63A8C93E3D5A2C54A8DBBA0975</MD5>
<SHA256>99DBE0E25B74E8811031507722F5E8F3B62C46B9F026C1DB2BC9EFF051FA3288</SHA256>
<FileSize>530552</FileSize>
<FileName>driverpack-17-online</FileName>
<Age>1</Age>
<NortonRating>1</NortonRating>
<Prevalence>4</Prevalence>
</File_Information>
<PID>2372</PID>
<SideEffects Count="1">
<File>E:\Downloads\DriverPack-17-Online.exe</File>
</SideEffects>
</Process>

After a restart of the System it did a Full Scan and deleted the rest:

Did a Second Opinion Scan with HitmanPro and APlus AV Solutions.

Sent File to Symantec for Threat result!

Best regards
Eli.

Interesting. Yes i know they have some advertising stuff within (i forgot to mention them, since i always use their custom install option which avoids those advertising stuff). The strange thing is i'm using it for years, never had an AV complaining about it, if used the way i use it. But i admit, it's been like several months since my last update.

In details:
1. The first binary from your report is obviously their advertising software.
2. The second: i have no idea, might be worth looking into it
3. The third i think is their driver downloader, don't think it's harmful, but this needs to be verified

Great catch though, worth every second to remind me and the others that custom installs are mandatory (don't use any express stuff). Still, if they only have that advertising software which i know it can be avoided by using a custom install (and the others are false positives), it's still a very useful collection of drivers and i'll keep using it.

 

[valvaris]

For PPL to know how to submit files to Symantec.

Here is a link: Upload a suspected infected file (Retail)

Fill out the form and after a week or two - You will get an answer if the file provided is a threat or not.

Best regards
Val.

 

[Winter Soldier]

“If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it“.

I think updating the drivers is not really required except if the computer shows problems that may be related to the hardware and a drivers update would fix the problem.
As a previous version of the driver is not working properly or has compatibility problems with your operating system. For example, if your cable internet connection often drops or your printer is not working fine, then the first step to resolve the problem is to update the drivers, better from the vendor website.

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

“If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it“.

I think updating the drivers is not really required except if the computer shows problems that may be related to the hardware and a drivers update would fix the problem.
As a previous version of the driver is not working properly or has compatibility problems with your operating system. For example, if your cable internet connection often drops or your printer is not working fine, then the first step to resolve the problem is to update the drivers, better from the vendor website.

Indeed. This package of drivers was veeeeery useful for WinXP, Vista, 7, after installing an OS. Aka, you didn't had to get to another computer (because you had no network drivers installed) and download the drivers. Now with Windows 10, this is less common as drivers are installed pretty much with windows updates. There's again the rare case when you don't have the network adapter installed with Windows 10 and cannot use windows update. This is it's strongest usecase

 

[Winter Soldier]

Indeed. This package of drivers was veeeeery useful for WinXP, Vista, 7, after installing an OS. Aka, you didn't had to get to another computer (because you had no network drivers installed) and download the drivers. Now with Windows 10, this is less common as drivers are installed pretty much with windows updates. There's again the rare case when you don't have the network adapter installed with Windows 10 and cannot use windows update. This is it's strongest usecase

Yes, some situations require specific actions.
From experience, rarely I've I felt the need to update a system driver, for example, when I switched to Windows 10 no pain, except for my Epson printer, but soon resolved by downloading the new driver from the Epson site

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

Yes, some situations require specific actions.
From experience, rarely I've I felt the need to update a system driver, for example, when I switched to Windows 10 no pain, except for my Epson printer, but soon resolved by downloading the new driver from the Epson site

I never used this for updating, actually, now that you are saying, i can barely remember when i manually upgraded drivers at all. You're right, i had some problems when i did upgrade

 

[LASER_oneXM]

hi

i found this thread about driver updaters on the reputable forum www.bleepingcomputer.com: Missing drivers in Windows 10.

a quote from POST #08 in this thread:

You should always search for drivers this way: computer/laptop manufacturer, hardware component manufacturer and Windows Update (for WDDM drivers mostly). If you cannot find your drivers at any of these places, it means that officially there's no drivers for the hardware component and version of Windows you are looking for. If a driver updater program finds you one, chances are it's not the good one or a fake one.

a quote from POST #04 in this thread:

DriverMax is a "Driver Updater" program. I strongly to never use programs like these since they can damage your system at a point where a reinstallation of Windows might be needed.

• Drivers are "middlemen" between your OS (Windows) and your hardware (computer). They control and facilitate the interaction between Windows and hardware components, to deliver a "message", nothing more;
• Having all of your drivers up to date, all the time, will not improve the performance of your system, nor your computer. You cannot increase the hardware performance of a component over the current capabilities it have;
• Driver updates are released to fix a bug or an issue with a previous release of that driver. Not everyone with the same drivers will experience the issue, so if you are having no problems with the drivers you are running, you don't need to update them. "If it's not broken, don't fix it";
• You can download drivers for free from your computer/laptop manufacturers website, or from the hardware component manufacturers website. You don't need to pay for any of them, if you are being asked to pay for drivers it is likely a scam;
• Only drivers from the computer/laptop manufacturers website, or the hardware component manufacturers website are considered official (legitimate and working). You should not download drivers from anywhere else;
• Driver Updaters are a scam, they try to convince you that you need these programs in order to make your system perform well, which is false;
• It has been tested and proven that these programs will detect outdated drivers on a system that have the most updated drivers from the manufacturer, which shows that they don't work and/or they try to make you install "newer" suspicious drivers;
• The goal of the distributors of such programs is to make money by making you buy their useless product, or install additional software (PUPs) when you install their program. Your system will perform worse with these programs installed than without;

This being said, such programs could be seen as "pure scam" and should be avoided at all cost.

..and also you should take a look at this links in POST #04:


Driver Updaters: Digital Snake Oil, Part 2 - Malwarebytes Labs
Never Download a Driver-Updating Utility; They’re Worse Than Useless
When Do You Need to Update Your Drivers?


cu and greets from Germany!

LASER