driver updater

[tbear228]

any good free driver updater program that is good and safe to use

dell studio xps 1640 64 bit vista home prem

[shruggy63]

I'm not sure that there are ANY ways of getting driver updates easily & safely: free or otherwise. I tried Driver Max recently & it fell at the first hurdle! I used it to download a video driver update that messed things up so badly I was lucky I could read the screen sufficiently to roll back to the previous restore point.
My thoughts are that the best you can do is get all the details on the relevant hardware & then search via the usual search engines starting with the manufacturer's own sites.
Beware however, some 'Easy driver update' 'free downloads' piggyback on seemingly legit sites wasting both your time & download limitations.
(Check elsewhere on Gizmo to get apps to analyse your system.)
If anyone can point us towards a free updater that'll prove me misguided I'd be grateful...

[kendall]

You might want to check out:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...ver-backup.htm

http://www.techsupportalert.com/node/319

There are a number of options available out there.

[Anupam]

Please refer to this thread for more options, already discussed on the forum :

best free driver updater

I would agree with shruggy63. The first thing to check for driver update is the manufacturer's site. I personally would trust ONLY that, and not go for any other driver update site, or program.

As can be seen from shruggy63's own example, a wrong driver can mess up your system. So, caution is advised. Creating a restore point would be good prior to performing a driver update.

[jim]

Even the manufacturer's site can give problems. My system is a 10 month old Vista Home Premium 64-bt
I bought it brand new. About 6 months ago (with the usual recommended updates) one of the optional ones was nVidia update for just my system. I downloaded and installed and ended up with no display at all. Had to force a reboot in safe mode and did a system restore. About a month ago it was again included in the latest updates (or possibly a later version). I forgot what happened - didn't I? . Lo and behold same problem. Keep meaning to ask nVidia about it but forgot that too.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by jim

About a month ago it was again included in the latest updates (or possibly a later version). I forgot what happened - didn't I? . Lo and behold same problem. Keep meaning to ask nVidia about it but forgot that too.

All forms of abuse are welcome!

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best...es-utility.htm
Attachment 350

[bearbottoms]

Here is a .NET program that does something very easily that other
freeware programs lack or have a difficult time of. It is a simple 1,2,3
process of a scan, review of new drivers, and download and install.

The developers claim 100,000 drivers and after a few cautious tests and
checks of the drivers it found, I went through the entire process without
any glitches.

It found 157 drivers on my system and 35 were out of date. I downloaded
and installed the drivers it offered (after a full backup/restore point set and a cross check with double driver of the drivers found) and had no issues
whatsoever. Simple, fast and did the job.

http://www.drivereasy.com/

Windows XP or Vista or 7
- Pentium III or higher
- 128 MB of available RAM
- 25 MB of free Hard Disk space
- Internet Connection to Download Driver
- .NET Framework 2.0

Who these folks are is a mystery at this point. The "About Us" link
fails. The "Contact Us" is a simple form. The home and features button
don't have links as the home page and features are all on the same page,
but the menu items are there.

The current version 1.0.1 lists a release date of 2010.1.28 on the site,
and the program "about" link lists 1.0.1.26799. It's free for personal
use only. The "help" button links back to it's website page. No other
information available.

[Anupam]

DriverEasy is a new software, I think. It was being mentioned few days ago on various download sites.