DriverScanner 2009 Review

Take note: you'll want to pay special attention to this review because it has to do with all versions of Windows!

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Question: What is the number one reason why people didn't upgrade to Microsoft Windows Vista?

Answer: Aside from the cost of paying for the operating system itself as a major deterrent, most people didn't want to upgrade to Windows Vista because of incompatibility issues.

Previous hardware that worked on Windows XP were either not compatible with Vista (at all). And in many cases, support for devices (video cards especially) were limited or crippled in some way, requiring major updates from hardware manufacturers that were far from fully working properly.

In every case mentioned, these issues were all hardware issues related to drivers. If this sounds all too familiar, that's because it is; in fact, the same problems plagued Windows XP when it first debuted in 2001.

The Importance of Drivers: Explained

OK -- so what exactly is a driver?

Drivers are a key component of the Operating System. In the simplest sense, a driver is a software program. A driver is the liaison between the hardware of your computer and the operating system (MS Windows).

Without a driver, a device simply won't work. Without a proper driver, a device may function erratically. And in almost 99.99% of all cases, drivers need to be updated regularly to eliminate previous bugs that cause instability with Windows, lock ups, and crashes.

Hence, keeping your drivers up to date is key to the health and performance of your PC.

Updating Drivers

Many programs today automatically check if there are any updates. Those that don't will usually have an option in their menus so that you can check manually for updates whenever you want.

Unfortunately drivers don't work that way.

This means it's usually very difficult to be sure you've got the latest driver for a particular device. Not only does this mean you risk missing out on improvements which could make your device run quicker, more efficiently or more reliably, but won't benefit from fixes to any bugs which have been discovered.

" Drivers can become outdated and possibly damaged to the point where they slow the system performance. " ~ Microsoft.com

" If you feel that your computer may be unstable because of outdated system drivers, the safest way to update them would be with the DriverScanner 2009 utility. Trying to update drivers on your own is a long and possibly a computer crashing experience. " ~ Whatsabyte.com

Driver Updating: The Old Way

Manually updating a driver requires lots of investigation, searching, and time. You'll need to note the manufacturer of your device (your video card, for example), its model number, and then attempt to locate the driver.

Unfortunately, wading through search results in hopes of locating the driver is time consuming. Quite often, many "driver" sites are ambiguous and display nothing more than advertisements instead of the driver you seek.

Worse yet, there are sites that will charge you to download a driver from their site, and it may not even be the most up to date!

DriverScanner 2009: The New Way

DriverScanner 2009 is an automated program that updates your drivers automatically. First, it scans your computer and finds all the devices which need a driver. Then, it checks if you have the latest driver. If you're not up to date, it downloads and installs the latest driver.

It doesn't get any easier than that!

Click to Try DriverScanner for Free, Now!

Using DriverScanner 2009 on My Computer

The Hardware Scan

At first glance I figured my PC needed six or so scanners: looking around, I could see a mouse, a monitor, a pair of speakers, a multifunction printer (with a scanner built-in) and a device for streaming music and movies to my TV.

When I thought about it some more, I came up with some more devices which would need drivers: I have a USB stick for backing up files, a USB keyboard, a couple of different MP3 players, two DVD burners (one built-in to the PC, one external), and external hard drive. Throw in a couple of cellphones in the house which connect to the PC to transfer photos and I reckoned I needed about 15 drivers.

Ironically 15 seconds is all it took DriverScanner 2009 to prove me very wrong.

That's how long it took to scan my system and find I needed no less than 121 drivers, almost eight times my estimate. I'd forgotten dozens of items from my USB hub to my wireless network adaptor to my Firewire port and then there were dozens of components inside my PC that I'd either overlooked or simply never heard of!

" So my advice is this: if you want to manage your drivers better, you need Uniblue's DriverScanner. It's inexpensive, easy to use, and performs its job admirably. " ~ Cooltoolawards.com

" Uniblue Driver Scanner 2009 ... [reduces] the drudgery of updating drivers. Overall it's a worthwhile tool with few competitors. " ~ PCWorld.com

Driver Downloads

The next step (which followed automatically) was for the software to check each driver to see if it was up to date. This took just 43 seconds.

Given I tend to keep my PC in pretty decent shape, I was surprised to find 16 of my drivers were out of date, around 13% of the total. Even more disturbingly, some of these were for my most important devices including my mouse, networking card (which carries my internet connection), graphics card, speakers and printer.

The program then gave me the option to download the missing drivers individually or get them all with one click. I chose the latter option and left DriverScanner to do its work. All told, it took about 20 minutes to download the drivers, though the program didn't require any attention during this time and I could carry on working without any freezes or slowdowns.

Click to Try DriverScanner for Free, Now!

Backup and Driver Installation

Once this was finished, I could have simply installed any of the drivers right away. However, the program advised me to use its backup feature to make a copy of my existing set of drivers. This covers the unlikely event of any problems with the updated drivers and seems a sensible precaution. It's also worth using this tool as part of your regular backup procedure as it would save a lot of time if you ever had to reinstall your operating system or switched to a new machine.

Fortunately I didn't have to immediately restart my machine after any updates, though this can happen with many drivers. Other people who've used DriverScanner say it's particularly useful in this situation as you can simply open up the program and carry on installing the remaining drivers rather than have to hunt around your machine to find the downloaded files and work out which you've already installed.

Special Offer for Infopackets Readers

We've negotiated directly with UniBlue to get a special limited-time offer for Infopackets readers. If you buy DriverScanner 2009 online, it will normally cost you $39.99. But you can get it for a 25% discount -- an amazing deal for just $29.95!

But that's not all!

With every purchase of DriverScanner you'll get a free copy of UniBlue's SystemTweaker. This gives you up to a THOUSAND different tweaks which can make Windows easier to use and more secure. It can also make it much faster to start up and shut down your PC.

Click here to Purchase Now at the Reserved Price!

Includes DriverScanner 2009 + SystemTweaker

 ~ $79.90 value for only $29.95! ~

An Infopackets Exclusive: Expires Soon

Don't forget: You can try DriverScanner 2009 -- absolutely free without any obligation: simply use the link below!

Click to Try DriverScanner for Free, Now!