I would like to see this site give away some sort of program that would scan your system for all your old drivers and then download the new updates.. Im not a tight
wad,but I can think of a millon other things to spend my hard earned cash on..
any feed back is helpful.thx for everyone's time in this matter
Something Different
(5 posts) (4 voices)-
kenpowers
MemberPosted 16 years ago # -
RunesageMagik
MemberKen, be careful what you wish for, because it may put your computer at risk.
Dell offers such a service to their customers, but IMHO (and the gold support techs with whom I've discussed its flaws concur) it is a royal pain in the neck. It scans a computer, then suggests many more "updates" than are really needed. It does a lousy job of scanning, a sloppy job of simply downloading drivers, and even its tabular layout of proposed downloads fails the user-friendliness test. It can't even properly read what drivers have just been downloaded so you have to keep track yourself. The techs know it, they've complained at group meetings, and Dell continues to ignore suggestions.
Microsoft is so notorious for mucking up computers with their automatic updates & patches that I and some others disable the automatic and "express" part so we can check closely and control what and when updates occur.
Several sites offer updaters and UPDATE downloads. Some have been discussed in these forums. As I recall, one struck me as being either very new or very rinkydink (or both), while another wanted way too much access to a PC to be considered secure and trustworthy.
The only one that seemed on the up and up - File Hippo
I believe that site has a decent reputation for maintaining and archiving UPDATES, but even there, I wouldn't trust any automatic update mechanism. Maybe let it run scans, but do your due diligence on each suggestion before allowing any update installs.You might find this comparison helpful. If you want to experiment, looks like the FREE UPDATE STAR is your best bet.
Posted 16 years ago # -
RunesageMagik
MemberIt's a given that new installs will update if required, but developers and manufacturers often update older hardware and software drivers based on known glitch fixes or to better interface with newer peripherals and OSs. It's up to the user to schlep over to their sites periodically to check. It is hoped that these updaters accurately do the schlepping for you, but that's apparently not always the case.
Granted, drivers are small files. My point was that in my case, when I had to reformat a hard drive and again when I installed a new primary hard drive, the original installation CDs were quite outdated, and Dell's on-line service (the name changed recently) took the kitchen sink approach by suggesting all sorts of drivers (and ALL their iterations dating back to the PC's build date). Worse, their results table format failed to provide a simple way to identify latest driver for every blasted piece of hardware and software and suggested driver updates for hardware brands and software I didn't even have, and no way to permanently deselect them or drivers I downloaded from the list. Every time I logged onto the scan service to download and install a few more, it'd go through the same scan routine and spit out the same long list. (about 64 upgrades!) I asked the techies if I'd caused the problem by renaming the drivers' main folders (divided into successful vs unsuccessful installs) such that the scanner couldn't/didn't drill down into and recognize the individual file names, but the techies weren't sure.
Posted 16 years ago # -
Whiterabbit-uk
Games GuruI've used Version Tracker for a few years now and have found the service marvellous. It is a subscription service, which I pay yearly, but it does allow me to keep all my drivers updated. You can run the trail and it will tell you which drivers need updating. You can read about it by following the link below. You'll find a link on the page to the download site. The monthly newsletter I get is packed full of freeware ideas.
Posted 16 years ago #
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