Advice Request Never Download a Driver-Updating Utility; They’re Worse Than Useless

[S3cur1ty 3nthu5145t]

This is time consuming and for doing this for every driver on your system, it isn't going to be an easy process. This is where driver updaters comes in handly especially for checking outdated drivers if not for updating the drivers itself (which is subjective).

This would be an accurate statement only if all your drivers actually needed updated at the same time, which happens like never on anyone's systems. And yes, doing things correctly can be a little time consuming, this as opposed to a utility that are well known for jamming the wrong version needed in your system, is the method I prefer for my machines.

 

[davidydk]

My experience with Slimdrivers has been very positive (and no, I don't have any connection to them - just use the software). It doesn't cost anything and admittedly it's always asking me to upgrade to driverupdate but I don't want to. I've been using it for some years on the other two PCs in the house without problems, except that Malwarebytes considers it a PUP and quarantines it - but fortunately you can tell Malwarebytes to STFU. So far, it hasn't given me any malware as far as I know.
A recent example: I just bought a Lenovo laptop with Win10 Home and upgraded to Win10 Pro in line with the other two PCs. Then I used Slimdrivers to identify if the drivers were up to date. It found 16 out of date drivers. I asked Windows 10 to update these drivers but in only one case did it find the most up to date. In most cases, it said the one I had was the most recent; occasionally it updated to a driver which was still not as recent as the one Slimdrivers found.
This is totally in line with my experiences when I was on Win7.
We'll see how the new laptop performs and whether I get any problems. If I change my mind, I'll let you know, but for now I'm sticking with Slimdrivers.

 

[jackuars]

This would be an accurate statement only if all your drivers actually needed updated at the same time, which happens like never on anyone's systems. And yes, doing things correctly can be a little time consuming, this as opposed to a utility that are well known for jamming the wrong version needed in your system, is the method I prefer for my machines.

Luckily the one that I use automatically creates backup of the drivers if it chooses to update them. So no problems there too if when I decide to rollback to previous state. Infact makes my life easier.

 

[S3cur1ty 3nthu5145t]

Luckily the one that I use automatically creates backup of the drivers if it chooses to update them. So no problems there too if when I decide to rollback to previous state. Infact makes my life easier.

If this works for you, then that is good.

It has been my experience with novices/average users, that if and when they decide to deploy and use utilities like this or system cleaners, I get phone calls directly after asking for help with their now trashed systems. It is one reason why I will not recommend them, the other is because I prefer to do them manually myself once I have researched the driver version and know it is necessary and safe to use.

 

[roger_m]

I've been using driver update software for 13 years. Sometimes they can cause issues. But, in that case I just restore the working driver.

Driver Booster is one of the best driver update programs. On one hand it really needs a much bigger database of drivers (but it already has a much bigger database than SlimDrivers for example). But, on the other hand it is very rare for it to install an incompatible driver, which is good of course. It will be interesting to see what changes v5 will bring. Hopefully the beta version is released very soon.

Wise Driver Care, which is currently in beta, is looking very good too. It is basically an English language version of the little known Chinese driver update software, Driver Genius (not the English language Driver Genius software), which I've been using for years. In my experience, it is by far the best driver update software there is, and it does very well for finding drivers for less common devices such as card readers, which Driver Booster and other driver update software often don't have drivers for. What's nice too, is that by default, it will only install drivers for devices which have no driver installed, or just have a generic Microsoft driver installed.

 

[212eta]

Each day, I see wrecked Systems by Driver-Updating Utilities
which have been worst than Malware itself.

I only download Drivers from the Manufacturers' sites.

 

[roger_m]

Each day, I see wrecked Systems by Driver-Updating Utilities
which have been worst than Malware itself.

In my opinion malware is much worse. It's usually very easy to rollback to a working driver.

 

[Deleted Member 3a5v73x]

Each day, I see wrecked Systems by Driver-Updating Utilities
which have been worst than Malware itself.

I only download Drivers from the Manufacturers' sites.

And what do you do if e.g laptop is from 2013 and manufacturer support only drivers for windows 7/ 8/8.1 from 2014? But you upgraded to Win 10 and e.g. Driver Booster shows there are 10 drivers out of date? Of course user starts lurking around the internet to find a way how to get the most recent drivers and end up at some Driver Updating software website. New users are not enough informed how device drivers work, that's why whenever there are some software claiming you have ancient* drivers from 2006.y user panics and grabs a wallet to pay e.g 30$ for Driver Updating software. In my country IT pros never talk or inform users how drivers work/how to install them/how to update them manually.

 

[VeeekTor]

Driverbooster is great....If it messed you up, your using it wrong.

Secret to using them is only update drivers that it says are extremely old, a year or more.

That way people have had time to weed out the incorrect drivers.

 

[VeeekTor]

I did all the ones for my motherboard since it is a few years old now. No problem...But you must mind the rule above, or your asking for trouble.

 

[GonzitoVir]

Recently I downloaded IoBit Driver Booster and updated many drivers (I wrote them down: Universal Serial Bus controllers, Intel Management Engine Interface, Bluetooth, Intel wireless interface, System devices and Memory Controller) . After the update I immediately noticed that the fans of my laptop were working more than before. Then my laptop began to overheat!
There is an option in DriverBooster to restore former driver but this option wasn't available for all drivers that were chenged. Thanks God Windows 10 created a restore point! I restored my system and everything was OK again.

 

[VeeekTor]

Recently I downloaded IoBit Driver Booster and updated many drivers (I wrote them down: Universal Serial Bus controllers, Intel Management Engine Interface, Bluetooth, Intel wireless interface, System devices and Memory Controller) . After the update I immediately noticed that the fans of my laptop were working more than before. Then my laptop began to overheat!
There is an option in DriverBooster to restore former driver but this option wasn't available for all drivers that were chenged. Thanks God Windows 10 created a restore point! I restored my system and everything was OK again.

Driverbooster has a feature, click on tools icon... Backup all drivers BEFORE updating, and ONLY update drivers 1+ years old and older.

 

[roger_m]

There is an option in DriverBooster to restore former driver but this option wasn't available for all drivers that were chenged. Thanks God Windows 10 created a restore point! I restored my system and everything was OK again.

Also, you can rollback individual drivers to the previous version using Device Manager, even if there is no Restore Point.

 

[Vasudev]

Never liked them anyway.

 

[roger_m]

I'm just waiting for someone to post, saying that driver updaters are malware or that they download malware.

Neither of which is true, or ever has been, but I've seen it claimed many times over the years.

 

[Deleted Member 3a5v73x]

Eset have really cool feature, to inform you about Windows driver updates, even if Windows Update says "Device is up to date", some device drivers might not be, so setting in Eset > Advanced setup > Tools > MWU > Recommended updates, will show after some while a dialog box on Home window that there are some system updates available. But when you click on "Run system update" it will take you to Settings > Windows Update wich will most likely show that system is up to date, so close that and open Device Manager and navigate to specific driver wich is out of date coresponding to Eset and just right click > Update driver >Search automatically.., that's it basically, i find it very useful, so i don't have to go through everything in Device Manager after all manufacturers drivers are installed.

 

[Vasudev]

I'm just waiting for someone to post, saying that driver updaters are malware or that they download malware.

Neither of which is true, or ever has been, but I've seen it claimed many times over the years.

Browse station-drivers.com and you get all the latest updates.

 

[DeepWeb]

I learned this the hard way. Nothing but trouble. Drivers are not things you need to update. Find the one that was originally designed for your hardware, install and forget about it unless there is a critical security/stability firmware update. You should only ever have to install drivers the first time you install Windows and never worry about them again.

 

[GonzitoVir]

Also, you can rollback individual drivers to the previous version using Device Manager, even if there is no Restore Point.

I learned this the hard way. Nothing but trouble. Drivers are not things you need to update. Find the one that was originally designed for your hardware, install and forget about it unless there is a critical security/stability firmware update. You should only ever have to install drivers the first time you install Windows and never worry about them again.

Yes. I've found the original drivers the best to use.

Talking about updating: Once I even updated my BIOS and man! lots of bad things happened. Thankfully I knew how to downgrade to the previous version and never ever touched my BIOS again.

 

[212eta]

And what do you do if e.g laptop is from 2013 and manufacturer support only drivers for windows 7/ 8/8.1 from 2014?

Better stay with what the Manufacturer offers and Not with What ambiguous Drive Updaters suggest.