The End of (Computer) Driver Search

Posted by tomsez

Over time, I got asked by people in tomita.web.id if I have certain driver for their computer peripherals. I did have my time when I had to search around and asked somebody for the same purpose. We could be just lucky if the manufacturer has it’s own website and a support page is part of it; download and install it right away. My recent experience has taught me that even if you could find the website and support page, chances are, you won’t find the driver you look for.

It was when I had to find drivers for this laptop: Fujitsu LH-531. The package only gave me a DVD with 64 bit drivers; what I need was those of 32-bit. I went to fujitsu.com and there’s a suppot page. Alas! It only provides 64 bit drivers. The same goes later on when I have to go for a motherboard from Asrock. I got a feeling that now we are somehow ~~persuaded~~ asked to move to 64 bit system, which is cool, but there’s no way that we could be sure if we would find problems with compatibility in near future of use. For now on, staying on 32 bit is a safe choice. I then searched around the web and came up with zip! But, that is not the end of the quest.

The solution is simple: let a software do the search. Yes, there’s a software for it. I used to use DriverMax, but now I prefer DriverEasy. I have mentioned two names, and for those who are accustomed with tweaking anything on your own, it should be enough. I mean, just do google for that, download, and install. I think a free version of it would do the job just fine.

However, I have come for some tricks in using DriverEasy :

Once the scanning is done, you’ll go to the download page. And if you’re done with downloading a driver, don’t install the driver right from the software. Instead, go the actual location of the driver file, move the file somewhere else, and install it from there. Installing the driver from DriverEasy is buggy (I don’t know if it is already fixed in the latest version). It could go to either your system got freezed or it won’t install at all. Anyway, there’s a good point in moving the driver somehere else for later use. Beside, the location path is somewhat tricky if you try to find it manually, but DriverEasy has a button to pinpoint the location.
Just as what people always put it: ‘don’t fix anything if it aint broken’. The same goes here. You might find that DriverEasy gives you the impression you haven’t installed certain driver, or that a certain peripheral that works fine is listed as if its driver is not there, or maybe you come to think that it’s a new version of the installed one. My point: only install the driver that you really need! Go and check the device manager in Windows. If you could see any missing driver, look for that specific driver only! My experience: installing what you don’t know for sure could lead to a catastrophe!

Would it be time when operating system set us free from driver searching ? That’s when Microsoft buys all hardware manufacturers in the world Or when there’s some super AI implemented in some brand new OS that would find ways to connect to just about any hardwares out there. But until then, we should be happy with this driver search utility.