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queue, I decided to download the latest drivers from it only to find out about Driver Updater Pro and it detected some outdated drivers.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.blogspot.com/2008/10/drivermax-will-keep-all-of-your-windows.html

[40hz]

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

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

[attach]

[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Thanks for the heads up 40hz, I nearly did that when Driver Updater Pro said it was outdated.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Interestingly enough, both didn't show my HP printer drivers as out-of-date.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...

I gave RadarSync a try when it first came out and noticed a lot of the information it provided was either incorrect or outdated.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/vulnerability_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, 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