I'm tired of hunting drivers

JeremyCT · Jun 13, 2015

Particularly certain vendors. Finding the exact right driver can be difficult. And then finding updates when needed is similarly a pain. They're out there, I'm just tired of the searching, particularly since I maintain multiple systems. The fact that Asus never seems to update the drivers on their website for their motherboards is also highly annoying.

Has anybody tried any of the various "Driver Search" programs out there that claim to be able to automatically find and install the latest drivers for your hardware? Raxco PerfectUpdater, Easeware DriverEasy, Trexy Driver Fusion, etc.

Does anybody have experience with these? Do they do what they claim to do? How well? Are there any that are better or worse than the others?

Silver_Pharaoh · Jun 13, 2015

I used driver genius for a while.

It was pretty good actually.

t1nm4n · Jun 13, 2015

Silver_Pharaoh said:
I used driver genius for a while.

It was pretty good actually.

Was there something wrong that made you stop using it? While I don't have the same dislike of driver hunting as others (I don't hardly update unless there are problems), I wouldn't mind a one stop shop for drivers that's not loaded with bloat ware and keeps sending me adverts. Never used one, they always seemed to be more interested in selling you something than finding drivers, or that's the impression I got just from the websites.

Janus67 · Jun 13, 2015

Snappy Driver has worked well for me. I don't use it for video card drivers, but audio, chipset, etc I do.

Silver_Pharaoh · Jun 13, 2015

t1nm4n said:
Was there something wrong that made you stop using it? While I don't have the same dislike of driver hunting as others (I don't hardly update unless there are problems), I wouldn't mind a one stop shop for drivers that's not loaded with bloat ware and keeps sending me adverts. Never used one, they always seemed to be more interested in selling you something than finding drivers, or that's the impression I got just from the websites.

No it was fine, I had to reinstall Windows and I just never re-installed it again lol

t1nm4n · Jun 13, 2015

@Jeremy thanks for starting this thread, I'd of never thought about it unless something was broken.

If Janus gives snappy driver an OK I'd be willing to try it out.

Janus67 · Jun 13, 2015

Yeah it updates via a torrent but keeps up to date pretty well.

JeremyCT · Jun 14, 2015

I went with Raxco PerfectUpdater since I'm familiar with and been generally pleased with their products. We'll see how it goes.

JeremyCT · Jun 14, 2015

Download speeds are atrocious. Estimate with a stopwatch puts it at a consistent 250 kilobytes per second. It does work, however.

bob4933 · Jun 14, 2015

Hmm never trusted those programs myself. I usually make a spreadsheet of things I have drivers for and run through a list once a month. I have hyperlinks on each one, so it's just a point and click affair for me. Sucks the first time I guess

EarthDog · Jun 18, 2015

I wouldn't trust those programs either, particularly one that is torrent based, but I never used it and trust Janus' judgement explcititly if he says it worked.

That said, I have zero issues updating drivers for a couple of reasons.

1. I don't update that often.
2. When I do update, I go to MFG website for the motherboard (everything there), then to AMD/NVIDIA for GPU drivers. Done.

No 3rd party app, no spreadsheet. Nada. I go to two places. Easy breezy lemon squeezy.

Janus67 · Jun 18, 2015

I should clarify, the software maintains a database of the software on your machine and will download from the official locations to update (so it will download intel chipset, usb3, etc drivers directly from intel) the actual front-end updates over torrent, or at least did the last time I checked. Software is completely free by the way, but after doing some searching it looks like it is no longer hosted on google code and moved to sourceforge (which I can't recommend) but found a link on majorgeeks (which I trust):
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/snappy_driver_installer.html

Screenshot from my computer:

JeremyCT · Jun 18, 2015

EarthDog said:
1. I don't update that often.
2. When I do update, I go to MFG website for the motherboard (everything there), then to AMD/NVIDIA for GPU drivers. Done.

No 3rd party app, no spreadsheet. Nada. I go to two places. Easy breezy lemon squeezy.

That doesn't work if you have an ASUS motherboard. For some bizarre reason, it seems that they don't update the MB drivers for their stuff. So you're forced to hunt drivers down component by component. RealTek, for instance, is kind of a bear to figure out what the latest driver revision is and where to get it. The RealTek website doesn't host them.

EarthDog · Jun 18, 2015

Sure it does, I have owned ASUS boards. If they do not update, I don't update unless something isn't working with a specific device. It is only then time to put on the camo and go hunting.

MANY mobo mfg are well behind the latest versions of chipset drivers, perhaps USB3, etc. But the versions that are there are 'tested' to work versus what you get may not. So that method of updating could actually be detrimental to your PCs stability.

JeremyCT · Jun 18, 2015

BSOD in Win8.1 traced back to a sound driver problem isn't exactly "working" in my book. Their "latest" RealTek driver pre-dates Win8.0 release. It's in no way current by any definition.

EarthDog · Jun 18, 2015

As I said, if you have problems, then go hunting. I agree, and said, they are usually behind. I never mentioned they were current.

Realtek drivers are on their site (Taiwan): http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

I just googled Realtek drivers, their .tw site was the first hit, and drilled down to find them. Hopefully that helps!

sobe · Jun 18, 2015

ASUS updates their drivers when needed via their site just like any other mfg, at least for all the ASUS boards I've had they have anyway.

But I would agree with ED, don't worry about updating drivers unless something is causing issues or needs immediate attention.

*edit*
Whoops, audio drivers causing issues would indeed be time for an update

I'm tired of hunting drivers

JeremyCT

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Silver_Pharaoh

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t1nm4n

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Janus67

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Silver_Pharaoh

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t1nm4n

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JeremyCT

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EarthDog

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Janus67

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sobe

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