With Dumo Pro on GOTD, thought it might be a bit useful to post some basic driver-related info...
What are drivers?...
Driver software is how Windows talks to the device' hardware. Because Windows needs to talk to that hardware to run, drivers are loaded 1st, before you see any login screen. That's why malware often poses as drivers -- it may be auto-loaded before you can do anything about it. And that's why a bad or incompatible driver may prevent Windows from starting, though hopefully you'll still be able to get into Safe Mode to get rid of it -- Safe Mode prevents most, but not all drivers from being used. Device Mgr. [in Control Panel] is where you can spot components that are not working [usually because of driver issues], where you can roll back to the previous driver version, where you can uninstall & install drivers manually, & at least until the Creators Update for 10 [April], where you can search Windows Update databases for newer drivers [Insider builds of the Creators Update simply open Windows Update when you try to search for updates online]. Obviously it's safest if you have a image backup that you can restore before you try to update a driver -- setting a Restore Point may or may not help.
Why update drivers?...
In the past a common comment went along the lines of "if it ain't broke..." I strongly oppose that philosophy when it comes to drivers, because newer versions often fix stuff - nobody writes new drivers because it's so much fun. *To me* the ain't broke argument is saying I want to purposely be ignorant. It's much better to research a new driver version, & find out what it offers, because only then can you decide if it's worth it or not. If you decide No, that's perfectly all right, because then you made a intelligent decision based on available facts &/or data.
A more recent reason is that Microsoft has been pushing out more driver updates through Windows Update than in the past, & a greater percentage of those driver updates are broken, either entirely or to some extent. As a rule of thumb, if a driver update appears in Windows Update, you can optionally try to install it if you want [it may or may not install], but make sure you check for a driver update from the manufacturer of that component &/or your device.
The evolving nature of 10 also makes checking for new drivers good practice, though it's far from mandatory. Updates &/or Upgrades to 10 can break or simply remove drivers -- if they're removed, & there's not a newer version available, you *might* be able to reinstall them via Device Mgr.
RE: Driver update software...
Ideally you know the ID of each of your device's components, & ideally each of those component's manufacturers has an easy to find & navigate site where you'll find recent versions of the driver you need. This is far from an ideal world. Software that automatically does the required searching, downloading, & installation is Much easier. Sadly however there's often a hidden price to be paid.
Drivers are normally written by the company that designs & makes a component that requires one -- they're the ones with the full engineering data needed. Those drivers are available to the companies that use those components in their products, & they in turn may modify them or not. And those drivers may be available to download from the OEM, from the manufacturer using those components, or in some cases, not at all. It's that last case or situation that's partly responsible for the creation of several driver sites, which provide drivers from alternative sources, e.g. people donating copies of drivers that came pre-loaded on their devices. Those driver sites are also sometimes malicious in nature, &/or available drivers may contain malware. You're also often relying on user reports that something works, and they may be wrong, or have no idea what they're talking about, or have malicious intent.
My personal guess is that that's why there's Dumo & Dumo Pro, which unlike some other driver update software, doesn't lead to a driver site or it's database(s) of downloads. Not doing so leaves the user with a bit more work to do however. Whether it saves you any work or not is up to you, and partly depends on your hardware... If a component is a few years old, & drivers haven't been updated for a couple of years, checking for new updates repeatedly in the future may be just a big waste of time -- face it, the manufacturer isn't going to spend the money. Generally it's the same if the driver has never been updated & the component's been out a year or more.
That said, there is a possible good use for these driver sites... Sometimes a component manufacturer releases a component that does not work properly, or well. In that case a company [e.g. Asus] might create an improved driver, though it's only intended for that component as used in their products. That improved driver **might** work for that component elsewhere, in products with a different brand, & a driver site might give you that info along with access to the driver. Do note that this is higher risk, experimentation or last resort stuff -- Be Careful.
Now the most important thing to realize, and a sort of hidden secret, when it comes to hardware & drivers IMHO, is that Windows most often Cannot really ID hardware. Only you can do that, either visually looking at the printing on the chips, or looking up the specs from a manufacturer doc, or as reported by other users with the exact same hardware & version(s). Windows Device Mgr. itself & apps intended to ID components report the IDs stored in the registry, and that can be wrong. If/when it's wrong, the wrong driver may actually work, just not as well, & a driver update is more likely to break it in Windows.
If you're going to run 10, I think it's useful, especially for cheaper Windows devices, to note what components are listed in Device Mgr. when you 1st get the device -- if an upgrade or update to 10 changes one or more of those in the future, if you have a list it'll be somewhat easy to spot. It can also prove invaluable to have saved a copy of the Windows\inf & Windows\ System32\ Driverstore\ FileRepository\ folders. The files in one or both of those folders may be your only way out if something like that is broken after a Windows 10 upgrade or update. [I've seen Loads of posts online with people pleading for someone to give them the original drivers after 10 deleted theirs.]
Windows 10 can be Much more prone to driver issues -- I've seen updates in 10 change the ID of components, & whether it changed the ID or not, I've seen it install drivers, often for the incorrect part, that break stuff. 10 is more aggressive or proactive detecting hardware changes & adding needed drivers automatically. For greater security, 10 is increasingly picky about accepting driver software -- it may refuse & may even remove drivers that worked fine before an update. And because 10 is continually evolving, changes to Windows sometimes break installed drivers that were working OK, & I've seen 10 leave the broken drivers in place -- that can be extra hard to deal with when Windows won't run because of it.
If you decide that's too much bother, trying to keep up with driver versions, that's OK too. Just different ways of approaching risk management. If you never have a driver problem, spending time trying to keep drivers up to date may indeed be wasteful. If you update drivers & don't see an improvement, that effort might be considered wasted. OTOH you'll not see an improvement unless you try, and if you do have a driver problem, the outcome may be worse than if you kept on top of that stuff. There's risk to either approach -- you have to decide what's best for you.