In its 26-year evolution, Windows has come a long way. One area in which it may never excel, however, is with device drivers and automatic updates. The major problem, which is largely out of Microsoft’s control, is that device drivers generally aren’t made by Microsoft. Instead, device manufacturers write, update and distribute device drivers.

Updates Will Never Be Fully Automatic

Microsoft will distribute device drivers from manufacturers, provided that the device drivers are up to Microsoft’s driver standards and that the manufacturer makes the driver available for distribution. Not all device manufacturers choose to distribute drivers like this, so not all device drivers are distributed via Windows Update.

While some device drivers are part of the “automatic update” routine, others are left behind. By itself, this may leave some users with the mistaken impression that all device drivers they need, want or use will be delivered to their computer as updates become available. In reality, some device drivers are distributed automatically and others aren’t.

For those device drivers that are not automatically updated, the user must make the effort to go out to the manufacturer website, locate the correct driver, download it and install it. One key ingredient – letting a user know that a new driver is available – is missing. Unless the user is paying attention, or has an application installed to flag updated device drivers, the user could go for months or years not even realizing that a new device driver is available.

That’s precisely why I use Driver Detective to manage and maintain all of the device drivers on my personal computers. Driver Detective takes the work out of device driver maintenance by monitoring for driver updates. It also monitors the performance of my installed drivers and lets me know when a device driver is missing, corrupted or otherwise misbehaving.

Driver Detective stores a local copy of the device driver, so if replacement is required, the new installation can take place quickly, without having to go out to the manufacturer’s website and download a fresh copy. When a new driver is available, Driver Detective retrieves the new driver and installs it, retaining a backup copy of the old driver in the event I want to roll back to an older driver version.

Best of all, I don’t have to remember to check the hardware manufacturer’s websites for driver updates. Driver Detective does all of that for me and maintains a library of the drivers I need for my specific hardware configuration. Download your copy of Driver Detective today and see what you’ve been missing out on!

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Microsoft announced last week that Windows 8 will not be a distribution channel for third-party application updates. The statement doesn’t change the current arrangement for (read: Windows driver updates ) in its regular “Patch Tuesday” loads. Some users had been hoping that Microsoft would tackle the responsibility of delivering application updates through a single, uniform updater tool, provided by Microsoft through the OS. Microsoft put the kibosh on that, saying that application updating is just too darned complicated.

Change Means That Third-Parties Are On Their Own For Distributions

This doesn’t change things for Windows driver updates, however, not all third-party manufacturers update their drivers through the Windows Update feature. The change in policy for Windows 8 means that users will have to remain on duty when it comes to keeping their Windows applications up-to-date.

In terms of device drivers, the status quo doesn’t guarantee that users have the latest device drivers, and that’s going to continue in Windows 8. Right now, the experience of updating device drivers is a mixed bag. With some third parties participating in Windows Update and others doing their own thing, users need to keep track of what’s being updated regularly and what isn’t.

For busy users, or for those who are not technically savvy, a better approach to driver maintenance is using a driver management utility like Driver Detective. Driver Detective determines – based on your computer system – what driver updates you need and downloads them right to your computer. The updates are installed and a backup copy of the current driver is stored locally, in case something happens to the active copy. You can also roll back to an older version of the driver if a new driver update doesn’t behave the way you think it should.

You don’t have to remember to check for updates. Driver Detective does that for you. You also don’t have to keep track of a lot of hardware configuration information, because Driver Detective does that, too! This is ideal for manufactures that use multiple third party component options within a single model. Driver Detective determines what your system needs – not based on the model number of your computer – but based on the components actually installed in your system. If you update a video card, add a different mouse, or attach a new peripheral device, Driver Detective can track and maintain those devices, too.

Driver Detective is one of the best driver management utilities available today. Millions of users have already downloaded it and rely on it to keep their computer systems up to date. Download your copy today and say goodbye to outdated device driver problems!

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Gamers make up a huge portion of the home computer market. One of their big demands is graphics support. For these users, nothing is worse than a game that doesn’t work well on their home computer system. Graphics adapter manufacturers release firmware, software and driver updates to make sure the gaming experience is good. Now Steam, a game software producer and AMD have teamed up to make sure that gamers get the driver updates they need directly through the game client.

Automatic Driver Updating Is A Must

If you take care of computers – even if you just take care of your own – you know what a pain finding, downloading and installing Windows driver updates can be. Sometimes, you don’t even know there’s a new driver update until something breaks. Other times, you know there’s a big problem and you need to wait for the manufacturer to come up with a solution.

Any tool that can automate the location, acquisition and installation of hardware drivers is a big plus in my book. The Steam/AMD client will only help out Steam gamers who have AMD graphics boards installed in their computers. For a more balanced solution, I always use Driver Detective.

Driver Detective works on any Windows computer and with any installed hardware. You simply configure Driver Detective to find the right drivers for your hardware and Driver Detective will do the rest. Installation and configuration couldn’t be easier, and Driver Detective is always working to ensure that you get the driver updates your system needs.

Better still, Driver Detective monitors the performance of the installed drivers. If a driver file becomes corrupted, Driver Detective will unload the bad driver and install a fresh copy. No more spending hours trying to figure out what’s going on with your drivers. Just install Driver Detective and it works.

The ease of installation and simplicity of use is what makes Driver Detective so valuable to me. I can install it, configure it and forget it. My computer always gets the driver updates it needs when it needs them. I don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting.

Driver Detective keeps a backup copy of the correct drivers available so it doesn’t even have to download a fresh copy if something goes wrong. It also backs up the registry before installing new drivers, so you can roll back to a previous state if you don’ t like the effects of an automatic update. How cool is that?
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