Does anyone know any free alternative to Driver Updater Pro?

[Paul Keith]

After encountering a problem where an HP printer won't print in landscape and would constantly hang when deleting items from the print queue, I decided to download the latest drivers from it only to find out about Driver Updater Pro and it detected some outdated drivers.

Problem is, it requires a registration to auto-download the lacking drivers.

[PhilB66]

gHacks "Free Driver Update" article mentioned RadarSysnc 2009.

[hpearce]

how about this ... just saw it recently http://elitefreeware...of-your-windows.html

[40hz]

Innovative Solutions's newest version of DriverMax can check for updates.

http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/



The procedure for downloading and installing driver updates is a little unintuitive, but it works. Mostly.

Note of caution: I'd suggest you ignore any recommendations it makes for updating your mobo, graphic, or chipset drivers. For those, you'd be better off going directly to the respective manufacturer's websites. My girlfriend's machine that had its sound disabled after a DriverMax recommended update was made to her Realtek drivers. I had to roll back the driver and go over to her PC manufacturer's download page to get the correct Realtek update for her machine.  Meh!

I think it's best to use an application like this purely for informational purposes. I use DMax to get a heads-up on driver updates, but I always go directly to your hardware vendor to get the actual drivers.

 

[Paul Keith]

Thanks for the heads up 40hz, I nearly did that when Driver Updater Pro said it was outdated.

Edit: Oh wow, how to trust both programs. DriverMax requires registration while RadarSync doesn't even know which Opera version is the latest so how can I trust both? Hmm...

Interestingly enough, both didn't show my HP printer drivers as out-of-date.

[cmpm]

I just updated an hp printer/scanner through windows update 'custom setting' and it fixed the problems she was having. So they do have some hp drivers apparently.

Though windows update is not what I recommend over the manufacture website. This did work. Maybe it would help you.

[40hz]

RadarSync doesn't even know which Opera version is the latest so how can I trust both? Hmm...

-Paul Keith (November 29, 2008, 04:53 PM)

I gave RadarSync a try when it first came out and noticed a lot of the information it provided was either incorrect or outdated. The biggest 'woof' was when it recommended I update two apps with older versions. And the sad part was that it correctly identified the version of what I currently had on my machine. It also said three of my apps were up to date when I knew there were newer versions available.

I uninstalled RadarSync ten minutes later.

I've had the best luck using a combination of:

KC Softwares SUMo
http://www.kcsoftwares.com/?sumo

Secunia PSI
http://secunia.com/v...y_scanning/personal/

and DriverMax in tandem to stay on top of my updates. It's a bit of a pain using all three, but it's only a once a week to-do item - and, once I identify and download the updates I need, I'm all set to go on the rest of my machines.

[city_zen]

KC Softwares SUMo
http://www.kcsoftwares.com/?sumo

-40hz (November 30, 2008, 01:46 PM)

40hz, be careful with programs from KC Softwares. Some of them are known to be ad-ware, not free-(or donation-)ware, as the author him(her?)self explains in this page: RK Bundles
IIRC, the author said that SUMo didn't include the ad-ware component, but I'd check it with Spy-bot, just in case. BTW, this was mentioned at Major Geeks forums

[Paul Keith]

Well, I've since given up with my printer. I just don't want to waste too much time on it. There's just too many problems.

First, after installing the drivers I downloaded from HP, it worked well. Restarted, suddenly my drivers were replaced with Send to OneNote and from there on I just pretty much decided that I was doing something awfully wrong if I keep getting problems with this printer.

[David.P]

I used Drivermax Pro a couple of times with good success. However then one time, it installed lots of wrong drivers and I had to to a system restore.

At the moment I give DriverEasy a try. It seems to identify missing drivers fast and reliably. However the driver download is very slow in the free version.

Thanks for any experiences towards other alternatives,

Cheers David.P