Elliot B. Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 For those that use such a thing, which driver updater software do you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Digitalfox Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 DriverGenius only to check if something newer more hidden is available. Normally I just go to station-drivers and download the latest drivers from them... Awesome driver library! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Bryan R. Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 Are any actually trustworthy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Digitalfox Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 1 minute ago, Bryan R. said: Are any actually trustworthy? Well DriverGenius I only use the 30day trial when I need it, so can't say how good the paid version is, I only use it to tell me the drivers outdated, I don't use its download feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Elliot B. Posted April 13, 2017 Author Share Posted April 13, 2017 16 minutes ago, Bryan R. said: Are any actually trustworthy? Never had an issue with Driver Booster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Mando Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 i used to use driver booster but since W10 ive just used board manufacturers drivers on this 7700k build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 The Evil Overlord Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Stock update system via windows update And the ones listed for my mobo's manufacturer website +Raze, LimeMaster, Draconian Guppy and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 dragontology Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Had no idea such a thing existed, really. I just use Windows Update and OEM website drivers... same as the guy above. Can we get some people reviewing these? Maybe a front-page article or something? Let's get a run down of all our options here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +Anarkii Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2017 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2017 I used AusLogics Driver updater at work as it was required when building new machines and doing batch driver updates, the licenced version worked but that said, it was a bit dodgy as I would be installing fresh builds of Windows 10 (the original at the time) and the program was telling me it had drivers from 2006 installed. What was good was it did a backup of the drivers already installed before downloading and installing new ones, but that being said, if you have a network connection for the internet and know the make/model of your motherboard and attached hardware, its MUCH MUCH safer to just actually go to the manufactors website, and downloading any drivers for your machine yourself, as you know exactly what you are installing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 d5aqoëp Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 None actually. Let Windows 10 update drivers by itself. I only search for updated Nvidia GPU drivers and that's it. If a device is not recognised by Windows, I search google using it's Hardware-ID. Classic old fashioned style and google is usually able to find out right driver. I havent used driver software and such softwares should never be used just like clean-up/tune-up utilities. Why fix if not broken? +devHead, Anibal P, The Evil Overlord and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 LimeMaster Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 I don't use driver finding software. I just search for the drivers I need manually most of the time. And sometimes I let Windows Updates find some of them. Draconian Guppy, DConnell, +devHead and 4 others 7 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +Zagadka Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2017 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2017 I just let Windows do its thing unless something actually breaks. The only thing I actively monitor is graphics drivers, but nVidia does fine letting me know on their own, and that is an exception to how useful drivers are. I haven't had a driver issue in forever. That is anecdotal, but... that's it for me. You should probably add Windows to that list to vote for. The Evil Overlord 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +Eternal Tempest MVC Posted April 14, 2017 MVC Share Posted April 14, 2017 (edited) Not on the list, Driver Magician once in a while (I have the paid version) to spot check every now and then. Since I'm on a more "mature" aka older hardware , windows / wu does a great job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 T3X4S Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Between this poll and the previous "Which defrag software do you use" - I am at a loss for words. Please tell me, if I traveled back in time, or have landed on a site, other than neowin, - I need to know ! I suppose tomorrow there will be a poll for "Who makes the best 3.5" floppy discs ?" or "Which toolbars do you have installed in Internet Explorer ?" maybe: "Anyone make a better CD-ROM than Taiyo Yuden ?" Circaflex, The Evil Overlord, margrave and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Elliot B. Posted April 14, 2017 Author Share Posted April 14, 2017 3 minutes ago, T3X4S said: Between this poll and the previous "Which defrag software do you use" - I am at a loss for words. Please tell me, if I traveled back in time, or have landed on a site, other than neowin, - I need to know ! I suppose tomorrow there will be a poll for "Who makes the best 3.5" floppy discs ?" or "Which toolbars do you have installed in Internet Explorer ?" maybe: "Anyone make a better CD-ROM than Taiyo Yuden ?" What are you on about? Up-to-date drivers are as important now as they were 20 years ago. Windows Update's hardware drivers are often out-of-date, though not as out of date as drivers offered on motherboard manufacturer's website. A lot of people think they're custom drivers, built for their motherboard hardware. They're not. They're mostly stock Intel, Realtek drivers etc. They're just simply very out of date because motherboard manufacturers generally give up caring after 6-12 months, they focus on their newer products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +Zagadka Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2017 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2017 No, 20 years ago things would just not work without manually updating the drivers. Things generally at least work automatically for 95% of the population. I shudder to remember driver installation in Win98. T3X4S and Tomoko 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Tomoko Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 (edited) None, I used to check manually but I don't even do that anymore because I see no point. All of my hardware works fine, why mess with it? +devHead and T3X4S 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Xahid Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 I do manually, when I think its needed. +devHead 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Premgenius Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 Don't have so many drivers, so I check the hardware manufacturer's site for drivers during the maintenance cycle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 cork1958 Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 2 hours ago, LimeMaster said: I don't use driver finding software. I just search for the drivers I need manually most of the time. And sometimes I let Windows Updates find some of them. Yeah, where's the option for no driver software updater? Have never used those junk programs. I remember quite some time ago one of them told me I had a new driver available for my video. Totally screwed my system up. Had to reinstall Windows! Never again on that junk! LimeMaster, Circaflex and goretsky 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 shockz Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 (edited) Windows Update most of the time. If I'm having a problem and nothing is on Windows Update, I'll go to the OEM site and go from there. The good old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it comes into play for drivers and me. Only time I'll go and search for one that isn't automatically updated via Windows is if I'm having some sort of issue, there is a performance enhancement, or a security issue. The only ones I'll go out of my way for are video drivers, and I usually go for a year or two with the ones I have unless there is some major improvement. Driver Scanners are sketchy, while there's a few OK ones out there, most aren't that great and are better suited for novice users, who ironically don't know anything about drivers or needing updates. Edited April 14, 2017 by shockz +devHead and Circaflex 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 +devHead Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2017 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2017 1 hour ago, Elliot B. said: What are you on about? Up-to-date drivers are as important now as they were 20 years ago. Windows Update's hardware drivers are often out-of-date, though not as out of date as drivers offered on motherboard manufacturer's website. A lot of people think they're custom drivers, built for their motherboard hardware. They're not. They're mostly stock Intel, Realtek drivers etc. They're just simply very out of date because motherboard manufacturers generally give up caring after 6-12 months, they focus on their newer products. You're right, up-to-date drivers are very important - that's why Windows has had it as part of its OS functionality for the past 15 years. The same as defragmenting your hard drives is important - which is why Windows has had automatic defragmenting of drives since Vista. The point he's making is that many of these third-party utilities are not really needed in 2017. Besides, this thinking that many have that you have to constantly update your drivers for all your hardware is erroneous. Most HW manufacturers release updated drivers for new hardware; if your audio or video or motherboard drivers are working fine, there's no need to update them. Only if there's some particular problem with the device that a driver fixes. This is what a guy from NVidia told me years ago when I found that an updated video card drivers was making trouble for me, and he asked me whether the previous driver (the one that came with the card) was working fine. I said yes it was, so he asked me why I would update it. I told him I thought you should always update your drivers, especially for video cards. He said that was not really necessary. I kept the original driver and never had problems again. Circaflex and T3X4S 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 T3X4S Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 1 hour ago, devHead said: You're right, up-to-date drivers are very important - that's why Windows has had it as part of its OS functionality for the past 15 years. The same as defragmenting your hard drives is important - which is why Windows has had automatic defragmenting of drives since Vista. The point he's making is that many of these third-party utilities are not really needed in 2017. Besides, this thinking that many have that you have to constantly update your drivers for all your hardware is erroneous. Most HW manufacturers release updated drivers for new hardware; if your audio or video or motherboard drivers are working fine, there's no need to update them. Only if there's some particular problem with the device that a driver fixes. This is what a guy from NVidia told me years ago when I found that an updated video card drivers was making trouble for me, and he asked me whether the previous driver (the one that came with the card) was working fine. I said yes it was, so he asked me why I would update it. I told him I thought you should always update your drivers, especially for video cards. He said that was not really necessary. I kept the original driver and never had problems again. I think a lot of pc technicians, enthusiasts, and people who build their own, think in some way that always making sure they have the latest everything will spawn unicorns inside their system, and "it might make it faster !" But when you get in an enterprise enviro with production, esp mission critical systems - if its working - dont mess with it. The idea of a program that constantly runs, to always make sure you have the latest driver versions is...well... stupid. The idea of always making sure you have the latest and greatest drivers (aside from grfx, and chipset) is also silly. When you do a clean install of your OS, yes - go out and get the best drivers - after that - if its running good - you're done. stop. Thats what Im "going on about" +devHead and Circaflex 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Dot Matrix Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 I'm in the same boat. I won't touch these shady programs. If everything is working fine, your drivers are fine. There's no need to worry about updating them. Circaflex, +devHead and T3X4S 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Circaflex Posted April 14, 2017 Share Posted April 14, 2017 4 hours ago, T3X4S said: Between this poll and the previous "Which defrag software do you use" - I am at a loss for words. Please tell me, if I traveled back in time, or have landed on a site, other than neowin, - I need to know ! I suppose tomorrow there will be a poll for "Who makes the best 3.5" floppy discs ?" or "Which toolbars do you have installed in Internet Explorer ?" maybe: "Anyone make a better CD-ROM than Taiyo Yuden ?" Couldn't have said it better my friend. These programs are absolutely worthless and are not needed. goretsky, +devHead and T3X4S 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 goretsky Supervisor Posted April 17, 2017 Supervisor Share Posted April 17, 2017 Hello, I do use some of the updater software from the system manufacturer, but normally only to gather updates to things like firmware and machine-specific software. For driver updates, I just visit the silicon chip manufacturer's web site and download from there. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Jim K and Circaflex 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Elliot B.
For those that use such a thing, which driver updater software do you use?
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