What's the best driver checker and updater out there?

I appreciate that Windows Update will fit most basic users' needs but I often run IObit Driver Booster 8 and it will find a driver update released months, or even years ago that was yet to be picked up via Windows Update.

However, I have previously run some other web checks that have apparently found more drivers that are months/years out of date which Windows Update nor IObit Driver Booster are picking up.

I prefer to have as up-to-date drivers as I can on my machines as I have a previous bad experience where I spent days trying to resolve an issue to later find it was due to a driver not being updated by Windows and that updated driver fixed the issue I was having....despite that driver having been released some 3 years earlier than when I was having my issue!

 

Last edited: Mar 27, 2021

I've used Snappy for a few years now. With the exception of my firewire drivers, it's always worked brilliantly. I run it manually ever few months and it identifies/installs what needs to be updated (letting you choose which ones you want first before proceeding with installing the updates). It creates a restore point too if you want - and it's free
https://sdi-tool.org/

 

I personally don't like those 3rd party tools too much.

Here's all you need:
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=ven_8086 dev_5902

In this URL example, I've searched by the vendor and device code listed for the respective hardware device in Windows Device Manager.

 

Last edited: Mar 27, 2021

I personally advise against driver updating software unless it's created by the manufacturer that makes the hardware and only for its own drivers. In my experience these tools usually do more harm than good. Drivers being so integral to the system, I prefer to manage the updating myself. It's not so difficult or time-consuming considering that there are only a few drivers to maintain. Bookmark the developer webpages and check back every so often. Stay AWAY from Windows driver updates. They usually don't give you the full featured driver versions that you can get from the manufacturers website.

 

Where are they listed?

 

I've never heard of Snappy but that looks awesome, thanks Paul Pi!

The one thing I've learned that you should never do is allow Windows Update to install driver updates. It's messed up too many things that were working fine. It mostly replaces manufacturer drivers with Microsoft ones, which I've found more often than not, either don't work the same, or don't support all of the features of the manufacturer drivers.

 

I always let Win 10 update drivers, and always felt good. Then I always install/update the most important (chipset, gpu, etc) by myself. but there are a lot of drivers that I don't even know they exist lol

 

Open Device Manager and find the device you want to install or update the driver.
Right-click and choose Properties.
Go to the Details tab and under Property, choose "Hardware Ids".
You'll see a cryptic list that clearly identifies your hardware.
Use the VEN_xxxx and DEV_yyyy strings when searching for drivers, sometimes the SUBSYS_zzzzzz text is necessary too.

Like @Catalyst said it's always a good idea to check the manufacturer site for the latest available drivers first.
In all the cases where these drivers aren't available anymore (happens a lot with older hardware), the Windows update site is often the only way to make your hardware work.

 

Whenever you think about upgrades, look for changelog.
Basically, manufacturers care only for their most profitable products. If your GPU or CPU is not on their list, you have won the middle finger.

 

• Know your hardware
• Know your hardware vendor
• Bookmark vendor driver pages
• Check once a month for updates
• Don't rely on software to do this...ever