Do you really need specific drivers?

trentlad · 28 Apr 2010 at 17:58

I remember back in the day we heard of malware that would edit hardware drivers and end up damaging hardware.

So keeping this in mind; when windows installs default drivers for your hardware without any issue, is it ok to continue using these generic drivers instead of installing the available specific drivers?

trentlad · 28 Apr 2010 at 17:58

For instance, my mobo is pretty new and has functional 64-bit drivers available.

However, if I install the specific drivers they come bundled with little annoying applications. The audio driver has high definition sound control app, the network card has a propitiatory application that loads with it, etc.

Simon42 · 28 Apr 2010 at 20:37

trentlad said:
However, if I install the specific drivers they come bundled with little annoying applications.

In many cases it's possible to just install the core driver without the 'extras'

Sometimes you need to look into a subfolder for the required files or extract files from a setup application to find what's required.

trentlad · 28 Apr 2010 at 20:43

I see what you're saying but sometimes you get executables that aren't zipped archives (i.e. a zip file with a *.exe extension). So instead of extracting the package, you're forced into installing it then locating the driver.

To wrap the question into one simple sentance:
Are we doing any damage by leaving the generic Windows drivers to drive the hardware?

trentlad · 28 Apr 2010 at 22:22

Wow. I'm surprised no one here knows the answer to this.

Thanks anyway.

thingemajib · 28 Apr 2010 at 22:51

works fine for me.
even stuck with the generic video drivers (9600xt on win 7) for a bit, but they didnt support open GL. didnt find out for aaaages mind you.

Marvin · 28 Apr 2010 at 23:12

In general, I've never had a problem with the W7 generic drivers for motherboards, but there were certain games that didn't respond well to generic GPU drivers.

MaxP779 · 28 Apr 2010 at 23:12

trentlad said:
Wow. I'm surprised no one here knows the answer to this.

Thanks anyway.

I would guess no because i think microsoft gets the drivers from the manufacturers anyway. The only disadvantage is that they will be older, but tbh that in itself could be an advantage as they are well tested and will almost definately work.

Simon42 · 29 Apr 2010 at 00:04

I see what you're saying but sometimes you get executables that aren't zipped archives (i.e. a zip file with a *.exe extension). So instead of extracting the package, you're forced into installing it then locating the driver.

You can extract from msi files manually and also from some other exe installer files using command line options. Not ideal but can avoid the bloatware of a full install.

Wow. I'm surprised no one here knows the answer to this.

The problem is that there is no definitive answer - it depends on your hardware. For a modern OS the default drivers are probably pretty good but the only answer is to do some research to find out it they support all features and whether newer drivers offer better performance or bug fixes.

trentlad · 29 Apr 2010 at 00:48

Simon42 said:
You can extract from msi files manually and also from some other exe installer files using command line options. Not ideal but can avoid the bloatware of a full install.

The problem is that there is no definitive answer - it depends on your hardware. For a modern OS the default drivers are probably pretty good but the only answer is to do some research to find out it they support all features and whether newer drivers offer better performance or bug fixes.

Thanks a lot Simon, I know it's a bit of an in depth question so really appreciate it mate.