best way to update windows 7 drivers?

spinna

spinna

spinna

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whats the best way to make sure my windows 7 drivers are all upto date?

ive searched google and there seems to be programs that this , some are free and some are not.

im abit reluctant to install any software incase its full of spyware etc
 
Personally, unless something isnt working how it should then I only upgrade drivers when they appear in Windows Update. (apart from graphics drivers)
 
spinna said:
im abit reluctant to install any software incase its full of spyware etc
Click to expand...

This is sensible.

In regards to finding the drivers, I don't know of an all-in-one piece of software that will do it - I can only tell you what I do.

The rule of thumb when it comes to drivers is that if it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. The exception to this rule as others pointed out is the graphics drivers - and only if you're bothered about games do you really need to update it.

If you go into Device Manager you can right-click and inspect the properties of a device. If you look on the "Driver" tab you'll see the driver details for that particular device. If you press the "Update driver" button it will search Windows Update for a new driver (from Windows Update)
 
Never use a 'driver finder' tool

The only ones I'd update myself manually..

graphics
sound
chipset
(maybe) network

go to the manufacturers website and download the drivers for them

if you have an intel chipset, just type in..

majorgeeks intel chipset, in google and use the link
 
The only ones you need to really worry about would be chipset, sound and graphics. Things like printers, network cars, wireless cards tend to be updated via Windows Updates and they are not so important.

Use device manager to find out the current version and/or date of the above and check the manufacturers site for the latest version and point the Update Driver to the folder you downloaded (once extracted from zip file if needed). Don't use any 3rd party software and don't use your motherboard manufacturers site as they are often a bit out of date.

edit: damn you bledd
 
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