Rating of Programs for Updating Windows Drivers

The term “driver” is familiar to most PC users. Most often, it is mentioned when something goes wrong with your computer—it slows down, freezes, or refuses to perform certain functions. What are these notorious drivers doing? This is a special control program that works between the computer hardware and the operating system. The hardware part means all PC components (processor, memory, video adapter, disk subsystem), including peripherals (printers, scanners, external drives).

If the driver used is outdated (this happens if the operating system is updated, even if you did not change the hardware), you should expect the troubles described above. The problem is solved by updating the drivers, and in order not to look for them yourself, it is better to use specialized utilities. Today you will get acquainted with the best of them. So let’s go…

driver booster

Over the past few years, Driver Booster has been considered the best specialized program for updating drivers. Many users are captivated by the ease of use of the utility: to start the process, just press one button.

Of course, this cannot be called the main advantage of the program. It was at the top of the rankings because it does the best job of scanning your computer for outdated drivers, looking for the most up-to-date versions for your hardware. After the scan is completed, a list of installed drivers is displayed, along with recommendations on which ones need to be replaced and which are fully functional. You only need to mark the recommended positions and activate the driver update.

The second area of use of the utility is updating the software components of the operating system that are responsible for the performance of games, and if you are a gamer and have problems with some of them, you should check your PC using Driver Booster.

Other benefits of the program:

carefully designed interface that does not cause inconvenience, even for beginners;
a constantly updated database of drivers, consisting of positions for more than a million different devices;
Windows game libraries (NET Framework, DirectX, C++) can be updated.

a simple two-stage algorithm: scanning and offering a replacement for specific drivers, with which you can agree, or you can customize the list of replacements yourself;
If the driver update was unsuccessful, you can always roll back to the previous state.
There is a batch driver update mode, and it is enabled by default.

ATTENTION. Up to version 8 of the utility, its operation required access to the Internet; offline operation is provided in the latest updates of the program.

Driver Pack Solution

DPS was originally designed to be able to work without access to the network. However, at the moment, the developer provides two options for the utility: standalone and regular, which made it possible to include it among the best programs for finding and updating drivers in an honorable second place.

The first version of Driver Pack Solution is an archive that, when unpacked with all folders and files, takes about 20 GB. This version is standalone; by downloading these files to removable media, you can use the program on computers without access to the Internet. This option often helps out, for example, when the network card is non-standard (outdated or too new) and the reinstalled OS cannot go online.

The second option works in much the same way as Driver Booster: the first stage is to scan the computer and download the necessary drivers from the network; the second is the actual update.

Utility features:

the presence of two delivery options: working without access to the Internet and updating drivers “on the fly” online. Both versions are current.
Although the database of drivers is inferior to the leader in terms of volume, in 99.9% of cases there are no problems with the replacement.

DPS, like Driver Booster, can install other useful OS components.
available to update drivers in batch mode;
A backup is created before updating the drivers;

The program can scan a PC for viruses and perform a health check on the RAM.

The main disadvantage of Driver Pack Solution is the abundance of advertising. Be careful during installation and watch for small checkmarks!

IMPORTANT. When choosing the standalone option, the databases are packed in the 7z format, for which you may need to install the appropriate archiver. The first versions of the utility were packed into an ISO image, which also requires specialized software to unpack.

driverhub

The completely free DriverHub program for updating drivers for Windows does not have an abundance of ads, which is a significant plus, but it requires access to the Internet.

In terms of ease of use, the utility is not inferior to the leader: the process of scanning a computer is launched with one button, “Find Now,” and after a few minutes, you will be offered a list of drivers that need to be replaced with new versions. All you have to do is tick off all the drivers that you see fit and click on the “Install” button.

Utility features:

a large database of drivers covering almost the entire range of equipment: audio chips, video cards, USB devices, motherboards, CPUs, and more;

If we are talking about basic hardware, we use drivers taken from manufacturers’ websites (Microsoft, Intel, AMD, HP, etc.);
Despite the absence of a paid version, there are no restrictions, neither in the number of updated drivers nor in download speed.
There is a backup function to ensure rollback to previous versions of drivers.

The utility has been totally rusified;
In addition to driver updates, Windows settings functions (networks, power, and disk management) are available.

Among the minuses, it is worth noting the default checkbox for downloading Avast antivirus, which you may not notice when installing the utility. In addition, on laptops with a weak video card, the program window may not fit on the screen (the scaling function is missing or works “crookedly”).

Snappy Driver Installer

Another excellent free program for automatic driver updates, almost as functional as DriverPack Solution.It’s less popular because it came out later and wasn’t as hyped.

It also has two versions: offline and online. In this case, the first option is loaded as an executable file; it does not need to be unzipped; it launches, and the auto-update process begins. This is an important advantage over the competitor.

The compact version of the program requires network access. It weighs only a few megabytes.

Benefits of the Snappy Driver Installer :

a huge database of drivers, which is recommended to be written to a separate USB flash drive in order to always have it at hand;
the standalone version “weighs” 19 GB (comparable to DPS), and the compact version will take 10 MB on disk;

Driver updates are extremely fast.
There are few ads, and third-party programs are not offered during installation.
The interface can be customized to suit your tastes and preferences.

The utility has been totally rusified.

Driver Genius

A fairly popular driver updater for Windows 10/8/7 It is distinguished by wide functionality: the utility can automatically search for the latest versions of drivers, create backups and restore deleted ones, and remove obsolete and unused ones. The interface is not burdened with unnecessary elements; at startup, the program will immediately start scanning the PC to collect information about the installed hardware and, after assessing the situation, will offer an update scheme. The Russian-language interface is present.

Driver Genius’s main features are as follows:

database for more than 300 thousand devices;
automatic backup before each driver update. Backups can be saved to disk in archived form, or you can create a self-extracting EXE file that can be launched if the update fails without the participation of the program itself.
There is a function to remove unnecessary software.

It is possible to use the command line.

The main drawback that did not allow the utility to take a more worthy place in the ranking is that it is paid. The free version does not have a backup, and there are restrictions on updating drivers.

Slim Drivers

The free Slim Drivers utility, due to its good functionality, turned out to be worthy of being featured in the top 10 best Windows driver update software. All the necessary options are present. There are no problems with updating either; the utility does a good job of creating a backup, and restoring from a backup also goes smoothly.

Features of Slim Drivers:

There is a built-in scheduler that can be used to periodically check for updates.
The driver removal function works very clearly.

The search and update processes are relatively quick.
The free version includes all of the functionality described.
The program is compatible with all the latest releases of Windows.

The abundance of advertising is the only disadvantage of Slim Drivers. Many options are activated during installation, so be careful and uncheck unnecessary boxes.

3DP Net

A specialized program for installing and updating network drivers only It entered the rating because of its demand and small size. If you accidentally uninstalled the network card driver, it will allow you to restore it so that the computer can access the Internet.

Of course, you need to download and install it first. With a weight of 100 MB, it can even be stored on a smartphone memory card.

Attention: When you download the program from the official site, do not confuse it with the 3DP Chip utility. This is also a driver auto-installer, but it is universal and weighs much more.

Double Driver

This utility does not know how to update drivers, but it does an excellent job of creating backups for all drivers present in the system. and he does it at an impressive rate.

Add to this the fact that the drivers in the backup are clearly cataloged and placed in separate folders named after the corresponding hardware, so you can’t confuse them. In addition, the utility is free, unlike most competitors in terms of functionality.

Driver Sweeper

This specialized software specializes in removing unnecessary and unclaimed drivers (these are found on all computers that have not been updated for a long time). The program does its job quickly and very efficiently, cleaning the computer of all traces of the software being removed. It can remove drivers that do not want to be removed by standard OS tools and detect those that cannot be found in any other way. Of course, with the creation of a backup, everything is fine here too.

DDU

A video card-specific utility rounds out the top ten programs for updating drivers. Its task is to remove old software if, when replacing it with a fresh driver, the system swears that it cannot complete the task because the old one has not been removed.

Display Driver Uninstaller works with the entire range of AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA products, even understanding legacy hardware. When uninstalled, it successfully “pokes” in the registry and on the system disk, removing absolutely all traces of the old driver.

The program can work in three modes:

removal and subsequent reboot of the PC;
deletion with a reboot request, which you can choose not to do at your discretion;
uninstalling the driver and shutting down the PC after completion.

The utility’s distinguishing feature is a detailed log of work, which allows you to track when and which drivers were installed and updated (in some cases, this function is simply irreplaceable).

Finally, consider the utilities from the developers of the main hardware for the PC.

Intel Driver Update

The official program for updating drivers on a PC from Intel is designed to replace the company’s proprietary hardware software, including processors, graphics chips, motherboards, network adapters, and more. There is a Russian version that works with all Windows versions.

It works in a fully automatic mode, from scanning the computer to replacing the software with the latest versions.

Autodetect AMD Driver

a similar program for AMD products. As a result of the launch, all the hardware of this brand, from the motherboard to the GPU, will be quickly and automatically determined. Unlike the Intel utility, it does not change the driver without the consent of the PC owner, providing him with links to download the latest software versions.

With russification here, too, everything is in order; there is compatibility with all versions of Windows. The utility can be useful both for searching for new drivers and updating existing ones, saving you from having to visit the official website and the agony of selecting from a long list of available versions, and even in English.

NVIDIA Update

As you may have guessed, this program is designed to replace NVIDIA or GeForce-branded products, mainly video cards. And they are present on three out of four PCs, so the demand for the utility is beyond doubt. In addition to scanning and replacing, NVIDIA Update supports customizable user profiles, in which you can set the frequency of checks, indicate whether beta versions are allowed to be installed, and decide whether to report updates in the tray.

By the way, the utility can also update game profiles, including SLI profiles, in manual and automatic modes. The official website of the company has detailed instructions for setting up the program, but it is unlikely that you will need them. In principle, you can figure it out yourself; there is nothing complicated there.

Summary

You have not yet decided which program to update the drivers with.

Finally, here are some helpful tips:

The most versatile utility can be called “Driver Booster.” We believe it should be on your computer.
If you are in doubt about which component of your computer is missing a driver, launch Device Manager and go through all its branches. Where there is a yellow exclamation mark, there will definitely be problems. associated, most likely, with the lack of drivers;

It is desirable to have an emergency flash drive with a set of drivers recorded on it, which will provide you with the ability to install them without access to the Internet. Make sure the package is not zipped.

We hope that our article will allow you to solve all problems with the hardware. If not, describe your case in the comments, preferably in detail. There will always be specialists who will be happy to help you.

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Rating of Programs for Updating Windows Drivers