Opinions of driver programs

N

netsider

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Messages
466
i can usually find most drivers i need without a problem. But there is always that ONE piece of hardware that i cant... usually because its older. I bought a program from staples for ten bucks called driver detective... it didnt really help me and was kind of cheap seeming. What does everybody here think of Driver Genius, Driver Performer, or Driverguide, or Windrivers.com? Does anybody know which is better to just go and buy? i just hate looking for drivers sometime... and i need to be able to use it on multiple computers. Any help would be appreciated.. thanks guys! ;)
 
You can get enough "unknown" device info in device manager to find drivers for it. The programs may sometimes be easier, but aren't really required. What they do is not magic.

To find drivers for unknown devices without additional software, look at the "Hardware Ids" under Details in the device's properties. That shows info whether or not a device driver is loaded for the device.

Google the vendor ID (VID) and product ID (PID), plus the OS and it usually leads to a compatible driver if one is available. Some chip manufacturers provide (updated) drivers and you may find that another OEM brand uses the same chip and drivers.
 
I did not know that.. thanks for telling me that. There's been some cards though, or devices, that even when I knew what model #, version, brand, os, and everything... that some legacy cards I just couldn't find drivers for unless certain websites or programs made me pay for it. And I could clearly see that it was the driver i needed too... but at the time i just didnt want to shell out the money for it...
 
i've used driveragent before. The site definitely doesn't do anything you cant do without some digging, but i had to install windows xp on numerous unsupported windows vista laptops several times a week. The site definitely made my job easier once i got the machines networked. I haven't had to do this for quite a while though since vista and win7 support got much better.

you said you knew the "model #, version, brand, os, and everything". Does everything include hardware id? Because sometimes it really does come down to the hardware id.
 
I've been using Slimdrivers for awhile now. Best one I've used so far, and it's free if you're willing to download one driver at a time.
 
serpretetsky said:
you said you knew the "model #, version, brand, os, and everything". Does everything include hardware id? Because sometimes it really does come down to the hardware id.
Click to expand...

QFT. Especially for nVidia laptop video card drivers. I just search "entire ID + drivers" in google and voila!
 
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