driver finder programs?

[stryder]

do programs like driver detective and version tracker actually work?
i`ve downloaded the trial versions of some and they seem to find loads of stuff but you get it to get the drivers and install them unless you buy the full product. just wondered if anyone has used anything like this.

 

[MarcLister]

I've tried some website scanner in the past. It told me I had some newer drivers to get....then it took me to a page where I had to pay $30 to access the newer drivers. Er no thanks guv.

I think you're better off just going to each manufacturer's site for the hardware you have and comparing the version numbers/release dates of the drivers they have to the drivers your hardware is running. If you keep yourself organised and up-to-date its worth doing this rather than shelling out $30 for a site to do this.

Alternatively, if you aren't sure if the driver(s) on a site is newer than the driver your hardware is using, download it and unpack the driver file (exe, zip etc) with WinZip/WinRar/7-Zip and then go to the Device Manager. Open up the hardware device you are concerned with, start the Update driver process and point the menu to the folder where the driver you just downloaded is. Windows will then scan that folder for the drivers. If they are newer, it'll install them. If they are the same/older, Windows will tell you that it didn't find any newer drivers.

 

[stryder]

the reason i`m so interested in these is for the last couple two or three months i`ve been having a problem where when i shut down the pc for a fraction of a second i get a blue screen error and the pc re-boots with the message -the system has recovered from a serious error or words to that effect so i click yes to report the error to microsoft and it always says the same thing-this error was caused by a device driver but doesen`t tell me any more! whats even more anoying is the fact that it doesn`t happen every time just once in awhile. and i haven`t recently installed any new hardware or software. a couple of days ago i cloned the drive on to another thinking the fault might be with the hdd but its still doing it with the new drive.
i could a clean re-install but i don`t fancy that if i can help it. is there any chance the fault could be on the board? also there none of the usual yellow question marks in device manager.

 

[MarcLister]

Ah. Do you see a 0x0000000 kind of code on the screen? If you do, google it OR google the error "Device driver" and whatever else information you can glean from the BSOD.

 

[gizmoy2k]

the reason i`m so interested in these is for the last couple two or three months i`ve been having a problem where when i shut down the pc for a fraction of a second i get a blue screen error and the pc re-boots with the message -the system has recovered from a serious error or words to that effect so i click yes to report the error to microsoft and it always says the same thing-this error was caused by a device driver but doesen`t tell me any more! whats even more anoying is the fact that it doesn`t happen every time just once in awhile. and i haven`t recently installed any new hardware or software. a couple of days ago i cloned the drive on to another thinking the fault might be with the hdd but its still doing it with the new drive.
i could a clean re-install but i don`t fancy that if i can help it. is there any chance the fault could be on the board? also there none of the usual yellow question marks in device manager.

Right click My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Start up and recovery settings > Under System Failure uncheck "automatically restart"

Next time it blue screens you will be able to read it and find out whats going on

 

[stryder]

thanks ,i`ll try that

 

[bledd]

manual driver searching beats the hell out of any program i've seen

doesn't exactly take long to find them


if there's a big bug in a driver you're using, windows update should have an update for it anyway.