Help Using Device Doctor

[Avrohom]

I am just looking for some basic direction.

I find the issue of updating drivers complicated and confusing.

Your program, Device Doctor certainly helps a lot. It not only tells you which drivers are outdated, but also, gives you a button to download the more current driver.

Device Doctor says 12 of my drivers are out of date.

I get nervous each driver I try to update. Perhaps this is not the right driver for my system or perhaps it is not as good as my current driver.

I did set a system restore point before all of this.

"How-to Geek" says, sometimes you need to install manually:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/6655/devi...e-scanner/

To install new drivers manually, just right-click the device in Device Manager, choose “Update Driver Software” from the menu, and then pick the “Browse my computer for driver software” on the first wizard page.

But how do you know which driver goes to which device?

They also say:


What Drivers Should I Update?

This brings up a good point—you don’t need to worry about updating every single driver on your system all the time, like that PS/2 keyboard driver we just mentioned. Here’s the drivers that we do recommend keeping updated:

Network Card Drivers – Especially as time goes on, wireless network card drivers need to be updated for better support and reliability.

Video Card Drivers – Every gamer knows that having updated video card drivers can be the difference between 100 and 500 nerd points. Also, better drivers make your system faster.

Chipset Drivers – You’ll be surprised how much difference the proper SATA drivers make on system performance, or the latest motherboard drivers make when dealing with system sleep issues. Personally I grab these from the manufacturer site.

Sound Cards – Keep them updated!

For example two drivers I updated were:



Filename: motherboard_driver_audio_realtek_azalia.exe
File size: 34,566 KB


Filename: Internal_VGA_Intel_8.15.10.1912.zip
File size: 23,474 KB


Do these fit into the four categories above?

Thank you!!!

Avrohom

[Thomas]

First one is sound card driver, second one is video card driver.

Definitely you are doing it the right way - having a restore point is crucial.

Howtogeek.com article author matches my thinking regarding driver updates. It could even be taken to the extreme - only update drivers if you have problems (eg. if there are visual glitches with some programs, it would be good idea to update graphics card driver), or if they bring functionality updates you could use. Unless you are a gamer or are running some applications that could benefit from having the very latest driver. On a sidenote, older drivers can work better than latest driver in some cases...that can happen as well.