If you’re wondering how important Windows driver updates are, and how long you can go without them, there are a few things you should be mindful of. Some users are under the impression that they get the driver updates they need through Microsoft, and if Microsoft hasn’t delivered a driver update, there isn’t likely to be one. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Driver Updates Are Important

Microsoft isn’t responsible for creating driver software, but they do distribute driver updates from manufacturers that pass driver updates along. Not every manufacturer does driver updates through Microsoft, however, so it’s not a good policy to rely on Microsoft for driver updates.

If your hardware manufacturer doesn’t use Microsoft to distribute its updates, you could be several revisions behind on your drivers. You might be asking yourself, “How bad can that be?,” especially if your computer and hardware seem to be working just fine without the updates.

Driver updates can provide additional security, extended functionality and corrections to the code you’re already using. They can also help your hardware work correctly after Microsoft has made a major update to the operating system. In addition, they can improve the overall performance of the hardware, so you get faster response and better control over your hardware when you keep your driver software updated.

You’ll miss out on these things if you rely exclusively on Microsoft to distribute your driver updates. Instead of waiting for Microsoft, or relying on your memory to visit the manufacture to check for updates, I recommend that my customers use Driver Detective to locate, download, install and manage driver updates for their computers.

Driver Detective is an all-in-one driver management solution for Windows computers. Driver Detective looks for, downloads, installs, and backs up drivers for your Windows computers. You don’t have to rely on Microsoft to notify you of an update, and you don’t have to remember to visit the manufacturer support site periodically to download drivers.

Driver Detective keeps track of your hardware, so you always receive the drivers you need when you need them. Driver Detective also keeps track of driver performance, and lets you replace a driver that is missing, damaged or destroyed.

Driver Detective takes the drudgery out of maintaining your Windows Drivers. There are certainly other driver management software packages on the market, but none are as reliable or as trusted as Driver Detective. Download your copy today and give yourself the driver security you’ve been looking for.

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Through July, you can get in on a great deal, if you’re willing to test the beta version of Driver Detective that’s designed to work with Windows 8. Driver Detective is the world’s best Windows driver management software, and for a limited time, the Windows 8 beta version is available for free download.

What Does Driver Detective Do?

Driver Detective offers users a great way to manage their Windows drivers. The product is well-developed and tested, and allows users to manage their Windows drivers with virtually no effort. Driver Detective has been available for years, and is a recognized leader among driver management software packages.

Instead of navigating through countless manufacturer websites looking for the right driver, users can simply download, install and configure Driver Detective. The software does the rest of the work.

Driver Detective will maintain a library of current drivers for each PC it’s installed on. Driver Detective monitors the installed drivers, locates new driver software and updates, and takes care of download and installation for you. You never have to go back out to a manufacturer’s website looking for drivers, and you don’t have to worry that you haven’t installed the correct version of the software.

Driver Detective downloads the driver package from the manufacturer and installs it, without making any changes to the manufacturer’s original installation package. That’s great news because you get the driver from the manufacturer, exactly the way the manufacturer distributed it. You won’t find any hidden extras, malware, adware or other unwanted items – just the correct driver for your computer system every time.

Driver Detective is highly reliable and stable, and the publisher is now making the Windows 8 beta version available for public testing. This is ideal if you already have a copy of the Windows 8 beta and want to ensure that you have the correct drivers for your computer.
The download is absolutely free of charge until July 2012, and can be installed and used as much as you want. There are absolutely no restrictions on the product, and the Windows 8 beta version is yours to use and test.

This is also great news for Driver Detective users who want to know that they can continue to rely on the product for Windows 8 support. As with previous versions of the Windows operating system, Driver Detective will available to deliver the same reliable service for Windows 8!

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It’s hard to believe, but it’s true: having the right Windows drivers can actually improve laptop battery life. Another element of laptop use that can improve battery life is eliminating or disabling the drivers you don’t need or use.

Battery Is Everything For The Average Laptop

Most laptops come pre-configured with the drivers they need to run their hardware. Keeping these drivers updated is critical because every device that your laptop runs consumes precious battery life. Old drivers sometimes consume more power than is necessary to ensure that a device or peripheral works properly. By updating your laptop drivers regularly, you can help assure yourself that you’re getting the most out of your battery life.

Getting the right driver is also crucial, especially for laptops. Most laptop manufacturers take care of the driver distribution for their products. That’s because a product with the same name and model number may have a variety of different components in it. In other words, two “identical” laptops won’t always have the same components in them, even though they may have the same model number and may perform identically. Laptop manufacturers often base their driver distributions on the unit’s serial number to ensure that the user receives the correct drivers and driver updates.

Video drivers are of special interest because the video display is one of the most power-hungry components in a laptop. Keeping the video driver up-to-date at all times can help preserve battery life and performance over the long haul.

Here’s another thing to think about: sometimes your laptop comes with peripherals you don’t use. For example, my laptop has a trackpad that takes the place of a traditional mouse. Unfortunately for me, I happen to like using a traditional mouse. To accommodate this preference, I purchased a wireless USB mouse that I carry with my when I take my laptop on the road. That means the trackpad is essentially useless. To ensure that the trackpad doesn’t consume extra power, I disable it and disable the driver.

Here’s another example of unused hardware: my laptop also comes with a built-in Webcam. The Webcam on my laptop was undoubtedly designed to appeal the Skype fans among us. I don’t happen to be one of them, so I don’t use the Webcam. Under the default load on the laptop, the drivers for the Webcam get loaded, whether I use the Webcam or not. Since I definitely don’t use this hardware, I disabled the Webcam drivers, which prevents them from loading. If I ever change my mind about the Webcam, I can simply reactivate the drivers and my Webcam will be back in business.

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Windows 8 is getting a lot of attention in the press because it’s scheduled for release sometime late in 2012. Microsoft has already released preview copies of the new OS and third-party developers are (presumably) working hard to write (or rewrite) Windows drivers that are compatible with the latest Windows version. Certainly, we can expect a lot of hype in the next several months, but what is Windows 8 prepared to deliver?

Performance, Performance, Performance

Microsoft has made no secret of the fact that Windows 8 is directed toward mobile devices. That would include laptops, netbooks, tablet devices and even the mobile phones that run the Windows OS. That doesn’t mean that more stationary devices will be left out in the cold, though.

Thanks to changes in the OS, users can expect better (read: faster) performance from Windows 8 than they see with Windows 7, and that’s a deliverable that doesn’t require the upgrade of existing hardware. Yes, under some (maybe most?) circumstances, Windows 8 will run faster than Windows 7 does using the same hardware.

Aside from faster operations, users can also expect a boatload of new drivers – after all, that’s how the user will actually reap the benefit of the new operating system. Microsoft has gotten very sensitive lately about the availability of drivers for its operating systems, largely because of Vista’s less-than-spectacular consumer debut. Regardless of what flavor of Windows you run, the product doesn’t generate a lot of joy when manufacturers don’t make the drivers you need.

While Windows 8 is “new,” it borrows heavily from the Vista/Windows 7 architecture, so users can expect to find drivers that work on the new system pretty much out of the gate. That’s not to say that every manufacturer will toe the line and produce drivers on Release Day, but the installed user base for Windows 7 is growing, and users are either migrating to Windows 7 or they’re replacing their old computers with one that runs Windows 7. Third party manufacturers support Windows 7 for their new equipment, Windows 7 works well with its Windows 2008 Server enterprise counterpart, and that sets the stage for what Windows 8 needs to succeed on the hardware compatibility front.

For users that haven’t upgraded past XP, the writing is on the wall. Microsoft no longer distributes XP, though Enterprise users can load whatever version of the Windows OS they like, and the company has announced the drop-dead support date for the product. Once that date arrives (in 2014), there will be no more security patches or other support available for that OS, and what little (if any) driver development is occurring now will be abandoned at that time.

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