Partly because Driver Easy Pro is on GOTD.
Not that long ago I’d often blast anyone saying don’t update drivers because “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”. My logic was simple: no company would spend the money writing & distributing new drivers if they didn’t have a good reason to. Besides, just because you haven’t noticed a problem, say a lack of performance or a security vulnerability, does not mean it doesn’t exist. And currently with Windows 10, not updating to a newer driver version can mean that the next version of win10 won’t install, or worse, will install but cause constant problems.
But sadly, that does not mean that you should try to update any and all drivers before a win10 version upgrade either. If a new driver wasn’t specifically designed to fix a compatibility problem with a new version of win10, it too could cause that new version to not install, or give constant problems if installation was successful. Sometimes Microsoft &/or the company making a component will be aware of the problem & tell you that a driver must be updated 1st, but often that’s not the case. Likewise, you can sometimes find reports online, where others with the same hardware have upgraded to the new win10 version, and had problems, or not, the key word being *sometimes*. The company whose brand appears on your device [e.g. Lenovo] *may* have a list of what devices are compatible with a new win10 version, and it may or may not be accurate.
If you perform a complete disk image backup that you know you can restore, before attempting to upgrade to a new win10 version, if you have problems during or after the upgrade process you can go back – at least win10 will no longer force you to keep trying the same upgrade. You’ve now got roughly 18 months for Microsoft, the manufacturer of the faulting component, or you, yourself to fix the problem. And it’s entirely possible that a new version of win10 will work -- I’ve had it happen – and at 2 a year that means 3 new versions over that 18 months. The upgrade process will give you an option to roll back to that prior, working version of win10, but the few times I’ve tried it, it took longer than restoring a backup, and it failed to get things working as well as before. [I suggest Macrium Reflect (free or paid) because it’ll let you restore that backup with/without a bootable USB stick. And while I’ve never had a Macrium-created USB stick fail to work, it can be challenging with some devices to get into the bios setup to boot from a USB stick.]
As a failsafe option, I also suggest making and keeping a full disk image backup of your device when it’s brand new. Microsoft has continuously changed the way that win10 drivers should be written & work, and some of those changes were later dropped – drivers designed just for version X may not work at all with version Y. I’ve experienced this as well – I’ve had to restore an original backup, using all the original drivers, just so I could upgrade to the latest version of win10. Another sort of failsafe is to try to be prepared [as possible] to reinstall win10 fresh, rather than upgrading the version you’re using, because sometimes only a fresh install will work. You can do that by keeping any must-haves on another disk or partition, so they’ll not be wiped out by a new win10 install. And keep setup programs & keys where you know you can find them.
[Why a fresh win10 install may work better… One, win10 setup may try to use an existing driver, and sometimes that just doesn’t work. Two, win10 setup may decide a component is one thing when you upgrade, and something else when you install fresh – in that case you might be better off updating the device model & driver afterward, or not. Three, it could be that software, potentially including drivers, that you’ve installed is incompatible when the whole package is upgraded.]
As for today’s GOTD, an app like Driver Easy Pro can be useful, but I’d only use it as a Very last resort with win10. Ideally Microsoft will have all the drivers you’ll ever need in its database, and that’s certainly the way they’d like it to be. Many manufacturers disagree & won’t give Microsoft all their driver code. Many manufacturers decline to write new driver software once whatever components have been delivered. Many device manufacturers [e.g. Lenovo] limit their devices, so they can only use drivers obtained from the manufacturer’s web site. And many manufacturers do not keep the drivers they host on their site anywhere near current.
So how does one find out if there are newer drivers, and how to get them? If you’re lucky they’ll be installed via Windows Update, and if you’re luckier still they’ll be current & not cause problems with a later win10 version [neither is guaranteed]. Intel has an update app that scans their site. If you install AMD graphics drivers that you got from AMD, it’ll check for you, but the version that Microsoft gives you will not. Realtek components [audio, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi etc.] may be updated via Windows Update or via the device manufacturer’s web site – I’ve seen both, but not always the latest in either case. *Sometimes* you can right-click on a device in Device Mgr. [in Control Panel], selecting update driver, and it’ll find one online [usually not]. Sometimes a component manufacturer’s site will host the latest drivers, but Microsoft has been actively discouraging companies from doing this, so many like Realtek have stopped. If you right click a device in Device Mgr., and select properties, you’ll usually see who made the component, the component model number, and the driver version in use – Google the 1st two & compare any results with the 3rd, the version number you’re using now.
Since it’s easy enough to check for driver updates in Device Mgr. &/or using Google, driver utilities or finders and specialized driver sites have to go one better to make you want to use them. When a company like Realtek makes & sells something like a Bluetooth chip, they’ll sell it to lots of companies making lots of different devices. Since it’s the same chip in all of these devices, the same driver *may* work in all of them, or maybe not. So, if a company like Asus for example has a newer driver available for the same chip your device uses, maybe it’ll work, even though your device isn’t made by Asus. And that’s what the driver sites & apps tend to look for, drivers based on the component itself, regardless the brand name on the device. When I say to use this sort of thing as a last resort, it’s because a company like Asus might alter the driver code itself, just like they might alter the way that chip’s integrated with the rest of the circuitry in one of their devices – long story short, it may work, or maybe it won’t. Have a backup handy.