Advice Request Which is the best third party Driver update program?

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Be careful with Windows Updates drivers. Yesterday it decided to update the keyboard driver on my wife's laptop and ended up completely locking me out of Windows as the keyboard stopped responding.

it required a rollback to a previous restoration point. Fortunately, I always have a Windows installation disk around.

BTW even the worst driver utilities never quite managed to lock me out of Windows as Windows itself did :)
 
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I have been using Driver Booster for some time. Currently Driver Booster 8 Pro. Some functions are very useful, for instance, the Ignored updates for particular drivers. I had to ignore an update of the Bluetooth driver because it does work on my old laptop. So I added it to the Ignored List so that it won't scan that driver for updates.
 
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My rule of thumb is that for laptops or prebuilt desktops that are manufactured within 1-2 years, just download the drivers from the OEM's website, since manufacturers usually supports the device for at least 2 years which is also the duration of its warranty.

It is only recommended to use Third party driver updates on devices that are unsupported by manufacturers, which can be seen when the drivers provided by the manufacturers on their site are more than 2 years old.

I would recommend Snappy Driver Installer Origin since it seems comprehensive and accurate. Keep in mind that the full download can take at least 22 GB of space due to the driver packs that it downloads.
 
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nefty1029 said:
My rule of thumb is that for laptops or prebuilt desktops that are manufactured within 1-2 years, just download the drivers from the OEM's website, since manufacturers usually supports the device for at least 2 years which is also the duration of its warranty.

It is only recommended to use Third party driver updates on devices that are unsupported by manufacturers, which can be seen when the drivers provided by the manufacturers on their site are more than 2 years old.

I would recommend Snappy Driver Installer Origin since it seems comprehensive and accurate. Keep in mind that the full download can take at least 22 GB of space due to the driver packs that it downloads.
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Finding drivers esp for newish PC's probably isn't an issue, a driver updater is useful to check if a driver actually needs updating in moments - As in recently a few times with Nvidea security issues without visiting sites with many graphics & info on new cards among others - I'm pretty sure I haven't ever seen driver packs of 22 GIG in my lifetime?
 
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Cortex said:
Finding drivers esp for newish PC's probably isn't an issue, a driver updater is useful to check if a driver actually needs updating in moments - As in recently a few times with Nvidea security issues without visiting sites with many graphics & info on new cards among others - I'm pretty sure I haven't ever seen driver packs of 22 GIG in my lifetime?
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Basically, the programs use 52 driver packs, with each driver pack for different pc components, such as network, graphic cards, touchpad, etc. The advantage is that once the initial driver pack are downloaded, the software can be used offline, since it is a portable program. This is useful to run on PCs that are not connected to the internet.

In my case I just put the files in an external Hard drive and run it on any newly reformatted PC from my office. That way, I do not need to redownload any driver packs and at the same time saving time updating the drivers of the PC.
 
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I tested several, and in the end a stay just with SUMO, for me is the best and more reliable.
 

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Cortex said:
Lashed out on Dumo, looks pretty good, a couple of items I'm going to update but not all, simple interface & doesn't try to take over your PC like IOBIT - Really dislike their software system.
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I use Iobit Drive Booster when needed because it's been the most reliable for me. But it is indeed the devil. Why I am happy with Hibit Startup Monitor to alert of all the startup junk it throws in.
 
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nefty1029 said:
I would recommend Snappy Driver Installer Origin since it seems comprehensive and accurate. Keep in mind that the full download can take at least 22 GB of space due to the driver packs that it downloads.
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While I generally use other driver updaters, I prefer to use the Lite Version of SDI to the full version, as it doesn't included any drivers. Individual drivers are download when needed.

The Lite Version is just 5.1MB in size and the first time it's launched, needs to download about 16MB of index files.
 
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MegenM said:
I use Driver Booster. A feature that I like is that it lets me install network drivers when offline.
If you would like to have the latest drivers, then it is highly recommended to go for it.
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Drivers can be always installed offline, with or without tool.

Just download it before
 
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