Driver Identifier software

Has anyone ever tried this software - as in, use it to update their drivers?

I usually just stuck with DELL's drivers and/or links I found from NBR's owners lounge. However, recently today I had a PCI device unknown and after some searching came to this site.

I dl'd the software and it came back with a few drivers that were out of date - I've noticed a bunch of core items on the report, such as chipset, vid-card (see pic).

I realize that DELL's website are the confirmed "safe" drivers.. but wanted to know if anyone has updated their drivers outside of this...

 

I would be VERY wary of software that will find your drivers for you. You don't know where those files have come from or if they've been modified. Intel and AMD both have a driver update utility you can use to get your drivers up to date. Synaptics, Cannon, and both your Wifi and network adapters should have updated drivers on their website IF there are updates.
For the unknown devices, you should double check that. Go into device manager. If there is an unknown device it will show up front and center. If it's there, click on properties, them the details tab, and in the drop down menu under Property, the second option is called Hardware IDs. The info in that property is the Vendor ID (VID) and Hardware ID (PID). Should look something like this: USB\VID_413C&PID_8156
Four characters for the VID and four for the PID. You can use them to search for what your unknown device is and download the proper drivers from the manufacturer.

 

I would never use a 3rd party program to help me update my drivers. Ever.

 

My sentiment exactly.

 

Yeah, stick with the manufactures sites for drivers IF you want to update from the Dell ones. There will often be updated drivers for the hardware as OEM's come out with tweeks but many times they address an issue not relevant for the 'average' user, like adding support for a later model/revision. If it's all working fine then leave them - or research the latest driver to see exactly what it is for. The only driver important to performance will be the video in most cases.

Raji gives you the best way to find out the unknown device but I did have this problem (and I know it can be a bunch of things!). It was the accelerometer for the HD, check Dell drivers for your model. Only after installing it did it go away. Just a shot-in-the-dark though

 

Thanks guys, yeah it was the accelerometer that wasn't detected, so I'm not going to install anything crazy...

 

One shot - one kill, sweet