Driver Searching sites?

[steve]

We administer about 100 computers.

Sometimes we need drivers that we dont have disks for.

We had been using a web site called driveragent.com but despite the
fact that we pay them a fee, they now only allow 10 computers to be
registered, to check out drivers or we have to pay more. It seems like
a ripoff since you generally connect once get the drivers then never
connect that computer to their site again. After 10 computers they
lock you out unless you pay more.

Anyway does anyone use any other site service that can detect drivers
on a computer and then allow you to download the drivers.

We dont mind paying but we need an unlimited service as computer names
are always changing and we log on from differnt location. We dont want
to be limited by the number of comptuers we connect.

Regards

 

[Mark Adams]

We administer about 100 computers.

Sometimes we need drivers that we dont have disks for.

We had been using a web site called driveragent.com but despite the
fact that we pay them a fee, they now only allow 10 computers to be
registered, to check out drivers or we have to pay more. It seems like
a ripoff since you generally connect once get the drivers then never
connect that computer to their site again. After 10 computers they
lock you out unless you pay more.

Anyway does anyone use any other site service that can detect drivers
on a computer and then allow you to download the drivers.

We dont mind paying but we need an unlimited service as computer names
are always changing and we log on from differnt location. We dont want
to be limited by the number of comptuers we connect.

Regards

I have found that these driver finder sites are a waste of money. Not only
do they cost money, they frequently give obsolete or the wrong drivers. Why
not try the website of the manufacturer of your computers. The drivers there
are always free and correct for the machine. If all of your machines are the
same, or you only have a few models; download the drivers for each type of
machine, then burn them to disk. Then use the Copy CD feature of Nero or
Roxio, or ISO Recorder to make as many duplicates as you think you will need.
You may also be able to get a driver CD from the manufacturer, then copy it
as above. Save an ISO image of the drivers to a computer in your IT dept. and
whenever you need a disk, have ISO recorder spit one out from the ISO. That
way you'll always have fresh install media. Drivers can also be copied to
flash drives and distributed that way as well.

 

[steve]

While there is some truth to what you are saying, sometimes the cd's
get lost, and in some cases the system comes with an install cd with
all the drivers etc built into the cd which means you have to
reinstall the os to get things back. Some systems the devices are not
that easy to find. In our environment we probably have 10 or 20
different MBs and hardware. In a perfect world your ideas are sound
but sometimes when trying to find a solution at a persons desk rather
than rumaging through all the binders for disks, several floors away
or trying to guess at what the hardware nic video sound card is its
easer to go to a site and allow it to find your hardware. I agree that
the drivers are sometimes out of date and not the best but we are an
office. We dont need perfect we just need it to work and get going.

Has anyone used these services on multiple computers ??

 

[Malke]

While there is some truth to what you are saying, sometimes the cd's
get lost, and in some cases the system comes with an install cd with
all the drivers etc built into the cd which means you have to
reinstall the os to get things back. Some systems the devices are not
that easy to find. In our environment we probably have 10 or 20
different MBs and hardware. In a perfect world your ideas are sound
but sometimes when trying to find a solution at a persons desk rather
than rumaging through all the binders for disks, several floors away
or trying to guess at what the hardware nic video sound card is its
easer to go to a site and allow it to find your hardware. I agree that
the drivers are sometimes out of date and not the best but we are an
office. We dont need perfect we just need it to work and get going.

Has anyone used these services on multiple computers ??

No, because they are a waste of time and money. If you don't know what
hardware is in your boxen, take the time to do a system inventory using
something like:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html - Belarc Advisor
http://www.gtopala.com/ - System Information for Windows

Download current drivers (you don't want the ones on the CDs that came with
the hardware anyway - they will be ancient in computer terms) from the
OEMs' websites for those sorts of machines. Have a drivers folder and your
system inventory information on the server in a shared directory so you can
get what you need from any computer.

This isn't a question of perfect - those automatic driver finders are very
often wrong and will mess up your machines.

 

[R. McCarty]

Exactly right - Using driver finder/sites is like paying someone else to
drive your car to the oil change place.

 

[Bob I]

Yep, and then discovering they put the wrong oil in and the engine is
damaged.