Driver Updates

Myrm

Myrm

Bronze Level Poster
Hi

KK, I have a Vortex III which I got from PCS (and vary happy with). It came with two disks of drivers, one for Win 7 and the other for Win 8.

My question is; obviously these drivers do get updated from time to time. How will I be alerted to that fact? Will it be included in Windows Update? Will PCS let us know? Or do I have to go through the laborious process of visiting each driver's manufacturer website and check up manually? Some of the drivers I wouldn't know where to start looking for updates on the web.

I have seen software such as 'Driver Detective' which claims to look through your entire computer and inform you of any updates and gives you direct download links for those update driver. Is software like this reliable?

Many thanks.
 
steaky360

steaky360

Moderator
Moderator
Unfortunately I don't think you will be alerted to every driver update available. The most important updates are probably graphics drivers (these change the most often) and you will be alerted when they are updated (nVidia experience will tell you). Most other important windows updates will come through windows update directly.

As for the software, I've never used it myself and wouldn't feel the need to given the relative infrequency of updates for 'other' drivers.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
In general the phrase "if it ain't broken then don't fix it" is a good one to live by, especially where software is concerned. nVidia do check for updates automatically because (I assume) the newer games require newer features or they uncover previously unknown bugs. I rarely update drivers unless I have a problem or performance issue I'm trying to sort and then I do make sure I'm on the latest versions so that I can eliminate drivers from whatever issue I'm dealing with.

Also, as a general rule, I rarely install drivers supplied via Microsoft update. In the past I have had problems caused by installing Microsoft drivers. If MS Update tells me about a new driver then I generally go to the product manufacturers site and have a look for the latest driver there. I also like to research the reason for the new version on the manufacturer's site to see whether the changes will affect me (often they don't).

I'm not a fan of the many driver update tools either. In my experience they tend to use their own database of driver updates and so you're trusting them to supply you with the right version. One driver update tool that I have used is the Intel Driver Update tool at http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect which will tell you of all updates to Intel products in your laptop (or PC) these updates of course come from Intel themselves and can be trusted.

As for looking for drivers on the web just Google the manufacturer of your various components. Device Manager (in Control Panel) can tell you the vendor of all your components, but there are several third-party products that will give you more information about the components of your PC than you'll ever want to know! One that I use occasionally is called Speccy by Piriform.

So I would suggest that (apart from nVidia which checks for updates itself) you don't worry too much about driver updates (or BIOS updates) unless or until you get a problem.

:)
 
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