Utility to automatically find Driver Updates?

[raiderscrusade]

Hello,

Recently I have been finding my computer to run slower than usual, generally experiencing fluctuating efficiency.

As a result, I have considered the possible cause of this is old, outdated drivers.

I was wondering if there was a free utility that can identify hardware and automatically find driver updates for said hardware if one is available?

If anyone is aware of any, please let me know because I feel my computer is not at its full potential due to lack of updates to drivers, etc.

Hope someone can help!

 

[Originality]

I've seen a few, but such software is usually filled with malware.

Windows Updates automatically keeps the important drivers up to date, and your graphics drivers can always be obtained from either AMD or nVidia (unless it's Intel integrated graphics which I've yet to find a driver pack that doesn't cause more problems than it fixes).

Drivers being out of date doesn't cause slowdowns. Driver updates, at best, only optimise the code to speed things up slightly. Your slowdowns are more likely caused by the quantity of installed applications on your computer. Fixing that is fairly simple - either use a registry cleaner, or do a clean install of Windows. I personally like to reinstall Windows once a year just to clean out all the crap and make things nice and fast again. Just make sure to back up any important data before you do.

 

[1NOOB]

http://www.ma-config.com/ install their little program , start the detection and click on driver , it'll look if there's anything newer for you . i use it when i format a pc .

 

[FAST6191]

Agreed that most driver update tools are malware addled pieces of junk however a combination of http://driverpacks.net/ and DriverForge ( http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/DriverForge.shtml has a download) usually sees me sitting pretty if the plain windows update options fail to do anything useful (can happen).

As others said though unless you are building a bleeding edge system using beta drivers that come with stuff disabled or operate under the "have basics just work however slowly that might be" or "work fast for the tests but crash all the time" mentalities a simple driver update is probably not going to do a lot. To that end as others said a defrag (use a proper tool like http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/download or http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/ ), a general junk removal session and maybe a windows settings/features pare down session will do far better for you.

 

[Rydian]

Generally the pack of drivers for your motherboard and then whatever addon cards (non-integrated GPU, non-integrated sound card, etc.) is all you need. I agree that most slowdown is because of running programs.

 

[Sterling]

Not only the programs running can slow you down, but all the useless crap on a computer can do it to. Especially if they're fragmented. I'd add a round of CCleaner and a defrag.

 

[Celice]

I've actually used Driver Genius without any problems. I wouldn't agree with the price though, but it usually does a good job of finding what hardware needs what and even downloading the most recent updates for you--or if you'd rather scout on your own, it'll draw up a list of what's missing and for which hardware, which you can then head off to google with.

It's particularly useful for computers that seemingly have disappeared off their manufacturer's websites.

 

[Pong20302000]

I've actually used Driver Genius without any problems. I wouldn't agree with the price though, but it usually does a good job of finding what hardware needs what and even downloading the most recent updates for you--or if you'd rather scout on your own, it'll draw up a list of what's missing and for which hardware, which you can then head off to google with.

It's particularly useful for computers that seemingly have disappeared off their manufacturer's websites.

i agree with this

driver genius is a life saver and i use it all the time cant beat it as it does everything well