As a technician, I can say that the most valuable tool I have is my time. Most computer problems aren’t easy to solve, if only because it takes time to figure out what’s going on with a computer. The actual problem may be simple, or the solution may take no more than a minute or two to apply, but getting to the point where you know what’s wrong can take a lot of mental effort. That’s why I appreciate time-saving tools like virus scanners, defragmenters and driver management software. Driver Detective is the driver management software package I use and recommend.

Driver Detective Does What You Don’t Have Time To Do

Driver Detective saves me a lot of time. Whether I’m troubleshooting a driver problem or just performing routine maintenance, I need to spend some amount of time with the computer. With Driver Detective, however, I don’t need to check on the status of the installed drivers, because Driver Detective does that for me.

I don’t need to figure out whether a driver has gotten corrupted or deleted because Driver Detective watches the installed drivers and can tell me whether something has gone wrong. I don’t need to spend even one minute going out to a manufacturer’s Web site and checking for driver updates because Driver Detective does that, too. When a driver update is released, Driver Detective automatically downloads it and installs it.

I don’t need to back up a copy of the installed driver because Driver Detective will take care of that for me. I also don’t need to back up the registry before I install a new driver because Driver Detective has that covered, too. In fact, I don’t even need to install new driver updates because once again, Driver Detective takes care of that.

If you’ve ever performed these steps manually, you already know how much a driver management program like Driver Detective can help. If you’ve never downloaded drivers for your hardware, I invite you to spend an afternoon searching for the correct drivers for your hardware, downloading them, and installing them. It’s not fun, but it is time-consuming. You also run the risk that one or more of your driver downloads will goof up something else on your computer. Then you can have the experience of rolling back a driver update and restoring the backup copy of your registry. (You did remember to back up the registry, didn’t you?)

After spending an afternoon on this little project, you’ll understand why I like, use and recommend Driver Detective.

Photo Credit: Brian Suda, via Flickr

The importance of having driver updates for Windows loaded on your computer can’t be understated. . In the past, computer owners would have to go to the manufacturer to get driver updates, and there was no good way to know when a driver was updated. Most people just waited until they had problems, then went looking for solutions.

Driver Updates Aren’t As Automatic As You Think

The issue of Windows drivers came right to the forefront with Windows Vista. Many manufacturers didn’t provide updated drivers for their existing products. In fact, many vendors basically abandoned the products they had on store shelves and in development because they would not create a working driver that was compatible with Windows Vista.

The “whys” involved in the situation are too long to go into, but many devices were not designed with a newer operating system environment. With Vista (and with XP to a lesser extent), manufacturers had to worry about making 32-bit AND 64-bit drivers. Windows XP and earlier operating systems were designed to work as 32-bit systems; 64-bit operation was an option but it wasn’t all that popular.

With Windows Vista, the system has a 32-bit mode, but its really designed as a 64-bit system. This is something of a problem for users who upgrade their system bit-by-bit because running the 64-bit version of any operating system requires you to have a processor that can DO 64-bit processing. If you were hoping to get by with just an OS upgrade from XP to Vista, you’d be disappointed unless your processor had the right stuff.

At the time Windows Vista was introduced, Microsoft was betting that most computer users had the right stuff to run Vista, and most peripheral manufacturers were betting that most users didn’t. They hedged their bets a little bit by not writing Vista drivers for much of their product line. By slowing down the upgrade curve, manufacturers could save themselves a lot of work and head off consumer complaints – at least for a while. Windows Vista was a nice operating system, but for the lack of drivers for even the most common peripherals.

When Windows 7 hit the shelves, hardware manufacturers were behind the 8-ball, so to speak. They had no functional 64-bit drivers but the consumers were squarely in the “upgrade the OS” corner. Windows 7 is a nice operating system, too. Even a year after its release, manufacturers are scrambling to catch up by releasing drivers for their existing product line. No one should expect that third party manufacturers will come to the table later in the game. Instead, consumers should reward the manufacturers who are ready with Windows 7 drivers, and leave behind the manufacturers that want to engage in brinksmanship on the issue of drivers. Windows 7 turns out to be a great opportunity for companies with ready-to-go drivers that want to make the most of the switch to Windows 7.

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Microsoft has made a lot of improvements to the Windows operating system since it hit the market. With Windows Vista, Microsoft learned the importance of having updated Windows drivers. What Microsoft learned is how little control it has over third-party driver manufacturers and how hard it can be to get them to update their products.

The Cost Of Not Having Drivers

Microsoft can’t be expected to hit a home run each time it steps up to the plate, but without having updated Vista drivers for hardware, there’s little incentive to upgrade for the home user. In some ways, Microsoft can force an upgrade by not allowing manufacturers to ship with an older version of the Windows OS – which Microsoft did to address customer complaints – but that just pushes the problem farther down the line.

We’re at that point right now with Windows 7. Windows 7 was meant to install on top of Windows Vista. The penalty for having skipped Vista is that the user must then do a “clean” install, which turns out to be a messy prospect. Windows 7 came with a raft of third party drivers, but that doesn’t free the user from having to do manual updates.

Having done them countless times, I can say that manual driver updates can be painful. Now, Windows can download and install driver updates if the system is configured to do so and if Windows Update has found (or been handed) an updated driver. If not, you’re manually updating your computer either as often as you remember, or when you start having hardware problems.

I’ve solved this problem by using a driver management tool called Driver Detective. Driver Detective does more than just locate the correct driver for a particular installation. It locates, downloads and installs updated drivers automatically. It also archives the correct driver on the hard disk and monitors the operation of each driver so that it can quickly reload a driver that’s been damaged or deleted.

What I like best about Driver Detective is that it saves me the time of having to go out and locate new drivers or find old versions of drivers that I want to use. I don’t have to wonder about whether a driver is current. Driver Detective finds out for me. I don’t have to figure out whether a driver is corrupted, because not only does Driver Detective figure that out, it also replaces bad drivers.

Not every IT “tool” is worth having , but Driver Detective is one of those software packages that is. If you haven’t already, download a copy and see for yourself how easy it can be to make driver management problems a thing of the past.

Photo Credit: Jenny Dowling, via Flickr

Although it’s not a surprise, Microsoft has announced that it will terminate support for Windows XP installations that have not installed Service Pack 3. The support for XP computer running Service Pack 2 will end July 13, 2010. The loss of support means that there will be no more driver updates, security patches, bug fixes and other modifications. Users who still run Windows XP must install Service Pack 3 to maintain support.

Unsupported OS Can Be Tricky

Running an unsupported OS can be tricky, since users won’t be able to get patches and revisions. Although development on the XP OS ended long ago, Microsoft was still providing maintenance releases that closed holes and kept the system as up-to-date as possible.

According to Microsoft, Service Pack 3 can be applied only to computers running the 32-bit version of Windows XP. Prior to installing Service Pack 3, the computer must also have Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 1(a) installed. These service packs are still available from the Microsoft Web site.

If you’re not sure whether your computer is a 32-bit or 64-bit system, you can find out by taking the following steps.
Go to Start > Run
Enter sysdm.cpl and click OK.
This will open a dialog box that will provide additional information about your system. Within the dialog box, select the General tab. If your system is a 32- bit system, you’ll see the words “Windows XP Professional Version XXXX under System. XXXX will be a date, expressed as a year.
If your system is a 64-bit system, you’ll see a slightly different set of words under System: “Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Version XXXX.” Again XXXX represents a year.

Service Pack 3 isn’t used with 64-bit systems, so it’s important to know whether you need the service pack or not. Do not install Service Pack 3 if you have a 64-bit system. Microsoft has provided a different method for patching and updating 64-bit versions of the XP operating system.
The installed user base for Windows XP is still quite large, however more users are adopting Windows 7. Importantly, many of the new adopters are Microsoft’s corporate customers, most of whom have been working with XP for nearly 10 years. In the coming year, Microsoft will likely examine its plan to drop support for Windows XP altogether.

Photo Credit: Nick Perla, via Flickr