Software that auto-updates drivers of a computer

I've seen some software like this before but can't remember the name of the software itself. Can anyone tell me a good software that auto-update a computer's drivers? Freeware would be great.

Windows Update usually has a good crop of updated drivers. In the update settings, start, All Progams, Windows Update, change settings.
Tick the button that says "Give me recommended updates....."
There is SlimDrivers which will search your hard ware and tell you about updated drivers, bbut doesn't do it automatically. It may suggest driver for non-existent hardware though. You will need to take a good look at its findings.

Britton30 said:

Windows Update usually has a good crop of updated drivers. In the update settings, start, All Progams, Windows Update, change settings.
Tick the button that says "Give me recommended updates....."
There is SlimDrivers which will search your hard ware and tell you about updated drivers, bbut doesn't do it automatically. It may suggest driver for non-existent hardware though. You will need to take a good look at its findings.

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Thanks.

You should know that it's not advised to use Windows Update for anything other than Windows.

Windows Update does not search the internet for the latest drivers specific to your system; instead, it relies on vendors to submit drivers. If WU doesn't have the latest drivers in its store, it can't give them to you.

If hardware vendors were religious about submitting their drivers to Windows Update, everything would be fine... but the reality is that the latest drivers don't often get submitted. I've seen guys repeatedly install outdated (and corrupt) chipset drivers because WU insisted they were the latest, and the user (unaware of how WU works), believed the message... frustrating himself to no end in the process.

For your chipset, video, and sound drivers, you should visit the corresponding manufacturer's site. It's not uncommon for there to be large gaps between the drivers in the Windows Update store and what vendors post to their site.

I once used one of those programs. It was a pain in the neck. Every time there was some language update (and those seem to happen very often), it was updating my system. I really did not care whether I was up-to-date in Chinese or Farsi. I quickly uninstalled the thing.

whs said:

I once used one of those programs. It was a pain in the neck. Every time there was some language update (and those seem to happen very often), it was updating my system. I really did not care whether I was up-to-date in Chinese or Farsi. I quickly uninstalled the thing.

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You mean the optional updates for Windows 7 right?

Best to use the updater from the OEM manufacturer's website.

Yeah, I guess it's best manually done instead of having a software does the work.

I'll retract what I said about Windows updates earlier. If WU says there is an updated driver, it will be a good time to check the manufacturer's site for one, hide the one from WU.

Britton30 said:

I'll retract what I said about Windows updates earlier. If WU says there is an updated driver, it will be a good time to check the manufacturer's site for one, hide the one from WU.

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Apparently, most of these software that detect outdated drivers in the computer actually reverts it back to a previous firmware that the software itself sees as "updated" version of the driver. I've already seen it in two software now: Uniblue's DriverScanner and SlimDriver. Getting the updates manually from the manufacturer's site is the best bet with this problem I think.

dothackjhe said:

[... Getting the updates manually from the manufacturer's site is the best bet with this problem I think.

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Atta boy.