Driver update scan review

It's fast, easy to do and only takes a minutes. Download the scan right here to see if your drivers need to be updated. Visit Site. It works on all Windows versions including Vista, and our testers reported good results across the board.

Download Now. Driver Genius. Our Rating: 3. Run this scan and you will know exactly which drivers you need to update:. Not sure which drivers you need to update? Run this scan to find out. Driver Update Guide: How to update audio and video card drivers, sound card drivers, printer and scanner drivers with the best automatic driver update software.

All Rights Reserved. These recommendations are soley based upon opinion. One of more of the services we review has been previously written about or featured by those companies. We have no affiliation with those companies. We make no representation or guarantee of the quality of these companies.

The rates, fees and information on this page, while accurate at the time of writing, is subject to change and may have changed since originally published. This site accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this site. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content. Pricing is good, too, with options to install on 1, 3, or 10 PCs.

Driver Reviver is a driver maintenance tool by ReviverSoft, since a subsidiary of Corel. It makes a wide range of other Reviver branded software products for both the PC and the Apple Mac, although this one is exclusively for the PC. What it aims to do is keep the drivers on the system concurrent, and avoid the system accidentally installing corrupt or malware-infected drivers.

One feature that we liked was that it creates a restore point before installing drivers. Enabling the system to be restored more easily, should the new drivers cause a problem. ReviverSoft claims that its driver database contains over 10 million files. Whatever the exact truth, its driver database is very comprehensive. As the title suggests, this is the twentieth version of Driver Genius , by Avanquest Software.

What Avanquest offers is a small but effective tool that manages driver updates on the PC that tracks more than a million hardware drivers to make sure that the right ones are on your computer. The level of user intervention is very low, as this solution is practically fire-and-forget.

Once installed, the application scans the drivers installed and matches these against a driver versioning database, and then downloads and installs the latest ones. And, it notifies you of new driver releases. What makes this one stands out is that it will bundle all the drivers into an executable file for you, a facility that accelerates the reinstalling of a system dramatically. This Platinum release has a few extras, including a system booster that tweaks a system for greater performance and another tool that optimizes SSDs.

IObit is a software house that has created several enhancement and optimisation products that includes Driver Booster in its roster. The current version supports Windows 10,8. Where this product deviates from the norm in driver support applications is that the free version will update drivers, but only two a day. If only Microsoft were so considerate of its customers. The free version of Driver Boost will download and install drivers happily, but you avoid adverts and can pay for some additional features with Driver Boost Pro.

And, that license covers you for a year on three computers! The options menu goes further than most apps do, too — you can choose silent installations, configure proxy servers and activate hardware monitoring to watch for components becoming too hot. Nevertheless, this tool is a great option for advanced users thanks to its high-end options and comprehensive performance.

As its name suggests, Driver Easy aims to make keeping your system updated the simplest process possible. There are other tools with more options, but Driver Easy is effective, well-designed and affordable — a great option if you want a good balance between features and accessibility. Most people pay little attention to drivers and have little understanding of what they are.

This is because they work in the background, allowing your hardware to perform as it was designed to with your computer. Unfortunately, many of the developers of driver update software take advantage of this general ignorance.

What Is a Driver? Whenever you connect new hardware or components to your computer, driver software installs to help the device communicate and interface properly with your PC. For example, every time you plug in a new USB drive, you see a quick notice that your computer is installing the driver. Once the driver is installed, you can access the information on the drive and save files to it. To Update or Leave It? Manufacturers develop driver software to ensure their hardware runs effectively and can communicate with your computer.

However, as with all types of software, there are often updates made to the drivers to help the hardware run more effectively or to keep up with performance demands of other software. Usually, these updates are downloaded and installed automatically by your Windows Update tool, especially if you use Windows But depending on your preferences and settings, some drivers can become outdated.

Sometimes the updates are meant to fix bugs that have been reported by users. After hearing complaints from people who have nearly had their home offices go up in flames, the manufacturer realizes there is a bug in the driver that keeps it from communicating potential overheating to the printer.

The company will then send out an update for the driver so it tells the printer to adjust its speed when it receives a large printing job, keeping it from overheating and catching on fire. This example is, of course, extreme. Most are updated automatically by Windows Update unless you change the preferences in the settings. But, as mentioned, you can download the updated driver from the developer.

In fact, the only time you should be concerned about regularly updating your driver software is if you have a graphics card for gaming or for use with graphics-related software.

The demands of games and software for 3D modelling and video editing constantly increase. As such, drivers for graphics cards are often updated to maintain performance as software demands more. Everyone wants their computer to run optimally, without lag or issue. When you keep your drivers up to date, this helps your connected components — such as your mouse, printer and keyboard — to continue working smoothly for you. Over time, you may notice that one of your peripherals begins having issues or stops working altogether.

This usually means that a driver is out of date and requires you to download and install the update in order to get it in working shape again. The process of finding and installing a particular driver update is made easier by using driver update software, which can source drives and help you manage them from one central place. However, should you choose to neglect updating your drivers, you may start to experience problems with your computer. You may also see these issues if a driver somehow becomes corrupted or goes missing, or if you upgrade your computer to the latest version of its operating system.

The first problem is that you could see a particular peripheral not working correctly. An older printer may not respond quickly or at all, or your video player software may freeze up. Multiple outdated drivers could hurt the overall performance of your computer. No matter what specific problem your drivers might have, if you leave them without an update for long enough, it may cause more problems, be they minor or fatal to your computer system.

A driver acts as a translator, thus allowing the computer and your accompanying hardware to understand each other and function correctly. This is true for all kinds of drivers, though the software we tested focuses mostly on original equipment manufacturer drivers.

This is why it is crucial to keep your drivers updated. Using a System Restore Point It is always nice to be able to undo an error or fix a mistake. Luckily, having a system restore point can help you get rid of a bad driver update or other new problems that appear on your home computer.

Simply put, a system restore point acts as a back button or undo option, reverting drivers, registries and other elements on your computer back to a previous point, such as before you installed a problematic update. We did not include a walkthrough for older systems, for example, those running Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP. From here, click on System Protection, then System Restore.