gHacks technology news » driver updates http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:22:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Device Doctor Scans Windows For Driver Updates http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/26/device-doctor-scans-windows-for-driver-updates/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/26/device-doctor-scans-windows-for-driver-updates/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 08:40:17 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=16672 Most hardware and devices work just fine on a computer system that is running a Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft is providing generic drivers for the most important components that ensure that the computer system is working properly. Generic drivers on the other hand have the problem that they do not provide access to specialized features. They are also not optimized. Many users therefor install drivers that are supplied by the manufacturer of the device to take advantage of these features. And this is where the problems begin. These drivers are not automatically updated when new versions are released. There is usually no way of knowing that a new driver has been released unless the user visits the developer’s website to check for new drivers, signs up for some notification service (if offered) or visits third party hardware sites that list driver updates on their websites.

A software that would handle all of these would be more than welcome. There is unfortunately no official one. A few third party tools have been released in the past that have tried to address the problem; Most of them with mediocre success thanks to the amount of devices and drivers available.

Device Doctor promises to do better. The free program scans Windows for driver updates and displays information and download links in a report at the end of the scan. And this is where the confusion starts. Device Doctor mixes update notifications of devices like video cards, sound cards or network cards with internal device driver updates like those for standard dual channel PCI controllers or a plug and play monitor.

The software did find updates for several devices like the Realtek network adapter or the Creative Soundblaster X-Fi audio card. The manufacturer’s website confirmed that updates were available.

device doctor

It does make sense to check the manufacturer’s homepage before installing these driver updates; At least for the first few times that Device Doctor is being used. There is still the lingering question whether to update the generic hardware drivers as well. I personally would be very cautious about it. Decided against it on the test system but some users who might experience problems related to a specific device on their computer system might want to give it a go to see if the update fixes the problem.

Device Doctor is available at the developer’s website.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/09/26/device-doctor-scans-windows-for-driver-updates/feed/ 30 Windows Driver Updates http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/12/windows-driver-updates/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/12/windows-driver-updates/#comments Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:57:35 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/12/windows-driver-updates/ windows driver updatesOne would think that there should be at least some free working tools for the Windows operating system that allow users to scan if drivers installed on the computer system are up to date or need updating. A user searching for terms like Windows driver updates or driver updates will most likely be disappointed as the top spots are held by commercial products that sometimes promise a free scan but require registration and purchase before the drivers can be downloaded. There is not really a lot of choice in the free sector which could be explained by the sheer volume of hardware devices and drivers which require a huge database in the backend that gets updated hundreds of times a day. Probably to much work for a group of individuals but excellent for a community project.

Anyway, some free programs to update Windows drivers exist. We have reviewed Driver Max in the past. The application has made some leaps version wise. It can not only be used to scan for Windows driver updates but also to identify unknown hardware or to perform device driver backups. A click on the check for driver updates button in the updates and identification category will start the scan of the computer system’s hardware.

The results will be displayed on the website of the software developer in table form listing the name of the device as well as the installed version and the latest version in the database. A disk symbol at the end of each line leads directly to the download of the device driver.

device drivers

The download pages list all downloads for the selected device. There is no mentioning if the drivers are alpha, beta or final drivers and it is recommended to perform a search on a search engine to verify the result. The suggested update for the outdated Intel Chipset Software Installation on the test system turned out to be an alpha driver. A quick search revealed a final driver that was available for download.

The list of downloads could use some filtering options to filter languages and alpha or beta drivers. Still, it is a better alternative than searching for all device driver updates manually. It will at least list the drivers that are not up to date anymore which will narrow down the manual process to a minimum. A free registration is required to use the program.

A similar program is 3DP Chip (read: Computer Driver Updates) which will only scan the most important components of a computer system.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/12/windows-driver-updates/feed/ 7 Computer Driver Updates http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/15/computer-driver-updates/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/15/computer-driver-updates/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:50:32 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=9913 Many users never update their computer drivers after the initial setup. They are either unaware of the possibilities or do not see a reason to update the drivers. Many face the problem of not knowing how to update computer drivers on a system. The major problem for many is that there is no official way of updating all computer drivers in one go.

Computer driver updates are usually available on the homepage of the manufacturer from where they can be downloaded. Many new drivers fix stability issues, increase performance or add new functions that previous drivers did not offer.

3DP Chip is a free portable software program for Windows that displays information about the central computer hardware. It concentrates on the processor, mother board, video card, sound car and network adapter.

computer driver updates

A click on the Driver button will open the website of the software developer containing a link to the latest computer driver made by the manufacturer of the hardware device. A check revealed that the latest drivers for all five components was available on the homepage.

Downloads are available directly for various Windows operating systems on the landing page which means that the software provides effective means to update the computer drivers.

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