There are few things more frustrating than having to deal with driver problems with PC hardware. Driver problems have dogged Microsoft Vista since its introduction, and although many common driver problems that were seen in the early post-launch days have been corrected, users still rate driver problems as one of Vista’s primary detractions.

Two Tools You Can Use To Combat Driver Problems

There are tools you can use to get more information about your drivers and manage your system drivers to avoid potential problems before they arise. Microsoft does include a command line tool called Driverquery.exe that will provide information about the drivers your system is using. The information won’t tell you whether your driver is the most up-to-date version, but it will give you a starting point when troubleshooting your installed drivers.

To run Driver Query, simply type driverquery.exe at the command prompt. There are three switches associated with Driver Query: /fo /lv and /si

/fo allows you to format the output as a list. /fo csv >filename.csv will allow you to port the output of the command to a comma-separated value file that can be opened by a spreadsheet program.

/lv enables the verbose mode and will provide additional information about the drivers it locates.

/si limits the search to signed drivers only.

If you’re not a computer expert, a better approach to driver management may be something like Driver Detective. This software program monitors and manages your drivers, identifies drivers that have been corrupted or deleted and downloads the latest copies of the drivers you need for the hardware you have installed.

In most cases, non-experts don’t want a technical explanation of why their computer hardware isn’t working properly; they simply want the problem fixed. Driver Detective can manage all kinds of driver problems automatically. There’s noting to do or run, since the search for new or updated drivers is automated. Driver Detective also keeps track of the drivers that are installed and in use, in case one of the drivers gets corrupted, damaged or somehow deleted.

Driver Detective is easy to install and offers a graphical user interface – no typing odd commands into a little black box, and no trying to decipher results that may mean something important to a skilled professional, but rarely mean something significant to a regular user.
I recommend Driver Detective for users who want to keep their computer running well but don’t have the time or the training to troubleshoot vexing driver issues.

Photo Credit: Tweakwindows, via Flickr