Feb 08, 2016 Is slimware utilities legitimate? I was taken to slimware to update drivers. Is this legitimate? Or is there a better, safer way to upadate. This thread is locked. Support Section look up your Computer or Hardware Model number then your Operating System locate the correct Drivers download and install them.
Hardware drivers are the software that allow your operating system to communicate with your hardware. Windows includes built-in drivers and automatically downloads new ones to make setup easier, but device manufacturers also provide their own driver packages.
The default drivers Microsoft provides are stripped down and a bit older, but they’re written by your device manufacturer — not Microsoft themselves. They’re often good enough, but sometimes you’ll want the complete package or a driver Windows can’t provide.
- Microsoft Windows update lists an optional driver update available: nVidia Geforce 8800 GTX display software update size 110.5 Mb dated 4-22-2010. Should I download and install these kinds of optional driver updates? My graphics card is working properly, why should I install something that might mess things up?
- Apr 04, 2016 Should I download and install the latest NVidia drivers from their website or just use whatever Windows Update installs? Or does Microsoft install the same one? I use the computer for digital image and video editing I don't do any gaming on this system. So any 'Game Ready' driver sounds like.
Drivers 101
Manufacturers write drivers for their hardware and provide them directly to you. If you buy a complete PC or laptop, it will come with the manufacturer’s drivers integrated. You may even get a driver CD containing drivers you can install on your computer. The latest versions of these drivers are also available or download from the manufacturer’s website. For example, if you have a laptop, all the drivers for your laptop’s hardware will be available on the manufacturer’s website — find the downloads page for your specific product model. If you build your own desktop PC, you’ll find hardware drivers for each component on each manufacturer’s website.
To ensure hardware works as well as possible, Microsoft doesn’t force you to install drivers from your manufacturer before hardware will work. Windows itself includes drivers, and new drivers can be automatically downloaded from Windows Update. Some components also have standard, “generic” drivers. For example, when you connect a USB drive to your PC, Windows uses standard USB mass storage device drivers. Manufacturers don’t have to create their own drivers for USB devices, mice, keyboards, computer monitors, and certain other types of peripherals.
How Microsoft Provides Drivers
Drivers are integrated into Windows itself, which is why the latest versions of Windows will provide the best out-of-the-box hardware support on newer hardware. For example, if you installed Windows 7 on your PC and a piece of hardware didn’t work immediately, you might have to download drivers for that hardware component from its manufacturer’s website and install them manually. If you installed Windows 8.1 on that same PC, everything might work out of the box because Windows 8.1 come with more modern drivers.
When you connect a device to your PC, Windows attempts to automatically configure it and install the appropriate driver. By default, Windows will check Windows Update for a driver is no drivers exist on the PC. Microsoft also distributes updated drivers via Windows Update, so you can get any necessary driver updates from there instead of hunting them down.
How Manufacturer-Provided Drivers Are Different
RELATED:When Do You Need to Update Your Drivers?
The driver packages Windows automatically installs are different from the ones your device manufacturers provide. The core drivers are created by your device manufacturer and provided by Microsoft after they go through Microsoft’s WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Labs) testing to ensure they’re stable.
However, Microsoft provides these drivers in stripped-down form. For example, when you get drivers for NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards from Windows Update, you’re getting a driver package without the NVIDIA Control Panel or the AMD Catalyst control panel. Connect a printer and the automatically provided drives won’t include the printer’s control panel. Plug in a wireless mouse and it will work immediately, but you’ll need the manufacturer’s control panel if you want to view the mouse’s battery level or customize what the buttons do. However, you may not always want these hardware utilities.
The versions of the drivers Microsoft provides are also a bit older. Microsoft doesn’t update these drivers as frequently, so your device manufacturer may have newer versions on their website. However, using older drivers often isn’t a problem. We don’t recommend updating hardware drivers — this can introduce problems. The one exception is graphics drivers, where you do want the latest versions of your graphics drivers if you play PC games.
Our Recommendation
RELATED:How to Update Your Graphics Drivers for Maximum Gaming Performance
If you install Windows on your PC or insert a new hardware device and it works out of the box — great! If everything is working properly, you probably don’t need to install hardware drivers. Some device manufacturers may even recommend against installing their hardware driver packages on modern versions of Windows like Windows 8, as Windows already includes the necessary drivers.
However, there are some cases where you will want to get drivers from your manufacturer:
- If You Play PC Games: Install the latest graphics drivers directly from NVIDIA or AMD if you play PC games. Not only do these packages include tools that will help you configure your graphical settings; newer versions will also improve performance.
- When You Need a Hardware Utility: Install manufacturer-provided drier packages when you need some kind of included hardware utility. For example, you may want to know how much ink is left in your printer. If this isn’t displayed on the printer itself, you may need the printer manufacturer’s control panel to see this information.
- When You Need the Latest Version: You probably don’t need the latest version of a driver. In some rare cases, a bug may be fixed in the latest version and you’ll need to install it from your manufacturer’s website.
- If Hardware Doesn’t Work: Download hardware drivers from a device’s manufacturer if Windows can’t automatically detect and install the hardware. Windows isn’t perfect and can’t automatically configure every piece of hardware.
- If You Have an Issue: Install the driver package from your manufacturer if a hardware device seems to not be working properly. It may seem buggy or just slow.
This will probably be controversial advice. Many geeks swear by installing all the manufacturer-provided drivers after they install Windows on their PC — motherboard chipset, network, CPU, USB, graphics, and everything else. But we’re not using Windows XP anymore — modern versions of Windows have improved.
Installing your manufacturer’s drivers often won’t be necessary. Your computer won’t be faster just because you regularly update your hardware drivers, and it also won’t be slower just because you’re using drivers that are a few versions old. (Graphics drivers are the one big exception here.)
Image Credit: juliendorra on Flickr
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Driver updater tools do just what you're probably thinking—they help you update some or all of the device drivers installed in Windows for your computer's hardware.
These free driver updater programs make it easy to keep your drivers updated. Use one, and you won't need to deal with Device Manager so much, nor will you need to go find the right driver from your hardware maker yourself.
You need not use free driver updater software to update drivers, but if you use one, don't pay for it. These programs are for your convenience only. See How Do I Update Drivers in Windows? for steps on manually updating hardware drivers.
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Driver Booster
What We Like
- Downloads drivers from within the program
- Creates a restore point before updating drivers
- Scans for outdated drivers on a schedule
- No limit on driver downloads and updates
![Free driver updates no purchase Free driver updates no purchase](https://www.ghacks.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/device-installation-settings.jpg)
What We Don't Like
- An internet connection is needed to scan for driver updates
- Always shows an 'activate now' button to get the pro version
Driver Booster is the best free driver updater program. It's compatible with all versions of Windows and makes updating drivers simple.
Driver Booster runs automatically to find outdated drivers. When new updates appear, download them from inside the Driver Booster program to avoid downloading them manually.
Before you install a driver, you can see how the new driver version compares with the currently installed driver, which is helpful. Driver Booster creates a restore point before installing a driver in the event something goes wrong with the installation.
There's an option in the settings to install drivers in the background, which hides installation wizards and other popup messages. This is handy so you don't have to click through so many windows when installing new drivers.
Driver Booster works in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
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DriverPack Solution
What We Like
- Lets you install outdated drivers even when offline
- Downloads are performed quickly
- Drivers can be installed without any prompts or user input
What We Don't Like
- Doesn't support scheduled scans
- The program is often sluggish
- Drivers can't be hidden so as to avoid seeing them in scans
DriverPack Solution has a user interface that's easier to use than most of the others on this list. There are only a few buttons and no confusing screens or options.
This program supports bulk downloads and automated installs so that you don't have to click through any installation wizards.
When you first open DriverPack Solution, choose to download and install all of the drivers automatically or pick for yourself which ones you want to update.
![Driver Driver](https://www.doncaprio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/driver-update-complete.png)
There's also some basic system information included in DriverPack Solution, as well as a software downloader that can install some recommended programs to your computer.
DriverPack Solution supports Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
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Snappy Driver Installer
What We Like
- Has no advertisements
- Completely portable (no install necessary)
- Downloads drivers from within the software
- Supports offline driver installations
What We Don't Like
- Scan schedules are not supported
- The program isn't as easy to use as similar software
Snappy Driver Installer is another freeware driver updater tool that's a bit like DriverPack Solution.
Download several drivers at once for many different types of devices. After they're downloaded, the program gives you immediate access to install the updates—with or without an internet connection.
Snappy Driver Installer is easy to use and doesn't even need to be installed. Use something like an external hard drive to transport and install the downloaded drivers to any other computer.
Snapper Driver Installer doesn't advertisements, doesn't limit download speeds, and can install as many drivers as you need without any limitations.
This program works with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
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Driver Talent
What We Like
- Installs quickly
- You don't have to download drivers manually—they download from inside the software
- The program is easy to use
- Drivers get backed up before each installation or uninstallation
What We Don't Like
- Setup might try to install an unrelated program
- Bulk downloading is not supported (you have to download each driver one by one)
- The schedule for scanning for outdated drivers can't be customized
Driver Talent (previously called DriveTheLife) is a straightforward driver updater program that downloads device drivers so you don't have to search the internet for official download links.
This application not only updates outdated and missing drivers but also fixes corrupted ones and backs up all your installed drivers.
The size of a driver as well as its release date and version number are displayed for you before you download it to verify you're getting what you're after.
An alternative version includes network drivers and works offline, which is perfect if you need to install drivers but don't have the proper network driver installed.
There's also a feature within Driver Talent that lets you download all the drivers necessary for the computer so that you can easily reinstall them should you reinstall the OS later.
Driver Talent works with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
Some antivirus engines identify Driver Talent as malicious. You can see the results here. However, the overwhelming results show that it's clean, so proceed with caution.
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DriversCloud
What We Like
- Lets you install beta driver updates
- Has the option to show only WHQL certified driver updates
- Shows lots of detail on the drivers
What We Don't Like
- Drivers have to be downloaded manually
- Doesn't support bulk downloads or updates
DriversCloud (previously called Ma-Config) is a free web service locates detailed information about your hardware and software, including outdated drivers.
The process works by downloading a program that allows a web browser to gather information from your computer.
From the website, you can find categories such as BSOD Analysis, My Drivers, Autorun, Network Configuration, and other areas you can browse.
When you need to update a driver, inspect the new driver's information compared to the currently installed driver—the version number, manufacturer, INF file name and date, and hardware ID.
Available for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, and Windows 2000.
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DriverIdentifier
What We Like
- Works offline without a connection to the internet
- Use it as a portable program
- It's easy to understand and use
- Includes helpful information about the drivers
What We Don't Like
- Drivers have to be downloaded manually from your web browser
- Won't check for outdated drivers on a schedule
- You must create a user account before you can download drivers
DriverIdentifier is a simple but useful free driver updater program.
It scans for drivers if you don't have an internet connection, helpful if your network card driver isn't working. When the scan completes, DriverIdentifier saves the list of drivers to an HTML file.
Just open the file on a computer that does have an internet connection so the DriverIdentifier website can cross-reference the results with their databases. Drivers that need updating will have an Update link next to them.
There's also a portable version of DriverIdentifier available.
Should I Download Driver Update App
DriverIdentifier finds Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP drivers.
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Free Driver Scout
What We Like
- Can be configured to update drivers automatically
- Multiple drivers can be downloaded in bulk
- Supports scheduled outdated driver scans
What We Don't Like
- Other driver updaters find more outdated drivers
- Setup might try to install other programs
- An update hasn't been released for the software in a long time
Free Driver Scout is an amazing driver updater because it provides true automatic updating.
This means the program will automatically scan for any required updates, automatically download the updates, and then automatically install them, without requiring any input from you, which can't be said for any other program in this list.
Device drivers can be excluded from a scan with Free Driver Scout so they don’t show up as needing an update in the future.
Free Driver Scout backs up backs up some or all of your drivers and restores them as needed.
Free Driver Scout includes a helpful utility called the OS Migration Tool. Run it if you’re going to install a different Windows operating system to your computer. It will find the device drivers for the new OS and save them to a custom location, like a flash drive. Then, when you have the other Windows operating system installed, you can use the same tool to restore those OS-specific drivers so you don’t have to worry about finding the device drivers again.
Driver Scout v1.0 works in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
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Driver Easy
What We Like
- Scheduling is supported to check for driver updates automatically
- Can be used at home and at work
- Driver scans are quick
- Downloads driver updates directly from within the software
What We Don't Like
- Drivers download slowly
- Updates have to be installed manually
- Doesn't support bulk downloads
- Some features are available only after payment
Driver Easy finds updates for drivers in Windows. Schedule a scan to check for outdated drivers and it'll prompt you to download an update. A scan can be scheduled daily, weekly, monthly, when your PC is idle, or even every time you log on to Windows.
Driver Easy downloads drivers from inside the program without opening an external web browser.
There are additional features included in Driver Easy as well, like viewing hardware information and scanning for driver updates when you don't have an internet connection.
Driver Easy runs in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
Should I Download Driver Update
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Device Doctor
What We Like
- Drivers get downloaded from inside the application
- Outdated drivers are checked when the computer goes idle
- The program is simple to understand
- Can be used as a portable program
What We Don't Like
- Limits driver downloads to one per day
- A driver's version number and date isn't shown to verify that the update is newer than the current one
- Won't automatically update the driver after the download
- Doesn't make restore points before updating drivers
- Shows ads
Device Doctor is a simple and easy to use driver update program. It runs as a regular program or as a portable one that doesn't need to be installed.
Schedule scans to check for outdated drivers and then when an update is found, you'll be taken to a website to manually download it.
Because you have to download updates outside of Device Doctor, you may sometimes need to unzip driver files before using them. You can do that with a file unzip tool like the one included in Windows or a utility like 7-Zip.
Device Doctor is limited to downloading just one driver per day. It's designed to find drivers for Windows XP through Windows 10.
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DriverHub
What We Like
- Really clean, easy-to-understand interface
- Downloads drivers automatically after you click the install button
- Bulk downloading is supported
- Supports an easy and an advanced mode depending on how you want to use the program
What We Don't Like
- You might be asked to install another program during setup
The DriverHub driver updater is easy to use because it downloads and installs the drivers for you and has a whole section of the program dedicated to recovery should something go wrong.
The program itself has a clean interface with only a few menu buttons. In the settings are some options for changing the download folder and disabling program update checks.
You can keep things simple and install whatever DriverHub recommends, or you can go into Advanced Mode to pick which drivers to get, to see version numbers, and to install alternate drivers (i.e., a newer driver but not the current version).
The Useful programs section of DriverHub isn't driver related but does include some helpful links to Windows utilities, like Disk Management, Task Manager, power supply settings, display settings, and more.
DriverHub works in Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.
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DriverMax
What We Like
- No prompts when updating drivers (they install automatically)
- Can optionally install only signed drivers
- Drivers are downloaded from inside the program
- Also lets you back up all your device drivers
What We Don't Like
- Identified as a potentially unwanted program by some antivirus tools
- Doesn't always find the right driver
- Limits driver downloads to two per day and 10 per month
- Only one driver can be downloaded at one time (no bulk download option)
DriverMax is a free Windows program that updates outdated drivers. However, it's limited in a few areas.
In addition to updating old drivers, DriverMax can back up some or all of the currently installed drivers, restore backed up drivers, roll back drivers, and identify unknown hardware.
DriverMax discovered a significantly higher number of outdated drivers than every other program from this list did. We checked the version numbers against the currently installed drivers and they all seemed to be valid updates.
DriverMax finds drivers for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.
Although DriverMax limits the number of downloads you can perform per day and per month, you can still check for outdated drivers; you're just limited when it comes to downloading the drivers. We talk more in the review about why this isn't as bad of a limit as it might sound.