Does anyone use automatic driver update utilities?

Am I mistaken in thinking that after your third step you only have a list of the devices?

Or does that actually download and install the appropriate drivers too?

Sure, You have your devices and also vender id, product id. Its not a hard deal to go and look them up.

But I respect your want of using "driver max" . I just do not want to fork out the money to know what driver I need. I look at it like this: If I use this program 40 times then thats 60 bucks. - 20 times and you have to repurchase it right?

:)

Ok good, I was starting to think I had misunderstood the end result.

And yes, it works out to about a buck forty-five each time you use it. So if it's used a thousand times it will cost $1,450 (since bumping it up to bigger numbers seems to make a difference to you). And if it saves only an average of 15 minutes each time, that's 250 hours saved. If your time is worth as little as $10 per hour, you'd be $1050 ahead. If your time is worth more than $10/hour - bump that last number up accordingly.

So back to the manual approach - after completing the three steps you described previously, you're really only 1/3 of the way done.

1. Find vendor & product ID's of the unknown hardware.
2. Cross reference the ID's using one of the various databases to find out what the hardware actually IS.
3. Find & install decent drivers for that hardware.
(hidden step 4.) Wash, rinse, repeat for each unknown device.

I actually do those exact steps when I have no other option. But given a choice, I'd rather knock out all three (four) steps at once.

Again, I'm not at all saying the manual approach is wrong - far from it. Only that it's not the simplest nor (in my circumstance) the most cost effective. Save a penny, spend a dime.
 
Last edited:
Well, Now we have many different views on how to do it and that should be that. To each their own.

Best Regards,

coffee
 
I have been using driver pack solutions for the last couple months. Start the program, scan your machine and it tells you what your missing and installs the driver from the dvd. I have not had any issues with it missing drivers.

When you run the program it will tell you if you have the latest driver pack set. If not, it will send you to the website to download the most recent version via torrent file.

http://drp.su/download.htm
 
I've used Driver Genius Pro 11 pretty consistently for the past couple years and it's worked flawlessly for the most part. Only recently have I seen it miss some Realtek soundcard drivers, and even then I'm wondering if upgrading to v.12 wouldn't resolve that.
 
For free products, Slim Drivers seems to do a decent job.

I have paid for a load of licences for Driver Easy which is generally good. Only rarely is it stumped and you get 3 days use off each technician's licence.

However all of them are prone to occasionally misidentifying a driver. When it does it can be a real pain. I had one decide that a broadcom wifi card was an ASUS USB wifi adaptor and I never did work out how to change that (anyone?) I had to replace the sys driver file with a different one from Broadcom before it would stop blue screening.
 
I've used driver genius before, and I've had pretty good results for it. The downside is you have pay per user and it isn't cheap. It's a pretty good solution, but only if customers want to pay for it. When buying in bulk you can get them as cheaply as $4.99 per license. Paying $5 to ensure you'd never have another driver issue is pretty well worth while to me. Well almost never, but it will be upwards of 99% protection.

I've downloaded but have not yet used DriverPack Solutions.

The hardware Id method works, but will take time to hunt down all the drivers necessary. All depending on how many you need, it might not be a very worth while approach.

I can kind of see the time argument when you look at the cost of time. Especially since most shops are getting upwards of $30 an hour for their time.
 
I've used driver genius and slimdrivers. I prefer driver genius. slimdrivers pulls up incompatible drivers A LOT on many different machines. especially old xp machines. it is free though ;)
 
I use driverpacksolution but I never let it install sound card stuff. It seems very consistent except when it installs MS UAAC drivers in which case it installs some crazy Russian version and your device manager says PRIVETPRIVETPRIVET? or something in Russian characters.
 
I have been using driver pack solutions for the last couple months. Start the program, scan your machine and it tells you what your missing and installs the driver from the dvd. I have not had any issues with it missing drivers.

When you run the program it will tell you if you have the latest driver pack set. If not, it will send you to the website to download the most recent version via torrent file.

http://drp.su/download.htm
I read a comment that it updates the System Info with their own logo.
I don' think that I am keen on that idea.
Is this true?
 
I have been using driver pack solutions for the last couple months. Start the program, scan your machine and it tells you what your missing and installs the driver from the dvd. I have not had any issues with it missing drivers.

When you run the program it will tell you if you have the latest driver pack set. If not, it will send you to the website to download the most recent version via torrent file.

http://drp.su/download.htm
Can't find a MD5 on that link.
Do you know of one?
 
If I can access the drive internally or slaved i use Double Driver.

http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm

boozet_dd_main.png
 
Back
Top