If you've noticed that your PC is buggy or slow, it may because your drivers are outdated. In Windows, there's no easy way to update your drivers other than going to the support pages of your various components and manually checking for an update.

Driver Performer simplifies this whole process by automating search and makes updating drivers a cinch with their simple interface. When you first launch the application, your computer is scanned and a performance report is generated. Driver Performer will tell you which drivers are outdated and will update them for you.

It also include a backup and restore feature so you can move your drivers to another machine and easily restore them. If you identical machines that you manage, Driver Performer makes installing and updating drivers easy.

Performersoft offers a trial version of Driver Performer but it is severely limited. It generates a report for you about which drivers are out of date but you can't update them until you've purchased a license key. There are similar programs like Driver Checker that does much the same but Driver Performer is less expensive.

If you want to keep your drivers up to date automatically, Driver Performer will make the whole process a breeze.

Download Driver Performer 11.10.1.11897 in Softonic

As soon as you open Driver Genius, it will present you with the option to scan for out of date drivers. You can then download any that might be missing, maximizing the performance of your hardware.

In addition to searching for out of date drivers, Driver Genius can also perform backups, including individual driver backups. These backups can be used to restore the system at a later stage if necessary - and Driver Genius will save them to a variety of formats so you can store the backup easily.

Driver Genius is an easy program to use, and needs almost no technical knowledge, as it prompts at every step. What's more, it has a number of nice features, such as a driver install/uninstall feature, the ability to schedule a scan for out of date drivers and the option to use the antivirus you already have installed to automatically scan downloaded drivers for viruses.

Very comprehensive, but surprisingly simple to use, Driver Genius is a good option for driver management.

Download Driver Genius Professional Edition 11.0.0.1128 in Softonic

DriverEasy scans your system in search of all missing or outdated drivers, and lets you download those directly from the program's interface. The whole process hardly takes a few minutes (except for the download bit, of course) and it doesn't require any technical skills.

To use DriverEasy, just hit the big, green Scan Now button in the middle of the window and wait for the program to complete its analysis. DriverEasy will then display a list of all the necessary drivers for your hardware and software configuration, including the installed, missing and outdated elements. If you want to fix them, simply click the Get drivers button and DriverEasy will display a list with direct download links for each one.

DriverEasy is easy to use and works with all sorts of drivers (audio, video, network, USB, PCI and more). On the downside, you may find that it doesn't support specific hardware components.

DriverEasy is a simple way to get all your software and hardware drivers fixed and updated.

Download DriverEasy 3.11.3 in Softonic

DriverScanner can scan automatically on start-up, so you will always be kept up-to-date on the state of your drivers. Even if you disable automatic scanning, the DriverScanner interface is uncomplicated, so doing it manually won't present any problems.

Once DriverScanner has finished its search, it presents you with a simple list of the problems it has found. It identifies the issue, rates its age and offers you the option to download the solution. Among other features is a restore function, in case you do any serious driver damage.

Apart from scanning and repairing, DriverScanner doesn't offer many other options. Setting configuration is adequate, but fairly basic, and you must be connected to the internet to download the help file, which comes as a PDF. Although it doesn't really provide any novel or inventive approaches to driver management, DriverScanner is a solid tool that will get the job done.

DriverScanner is easy to use, simple to configure and a good way of keeping your drivers in check.

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SlimDrivers will scan your computer and tell exactly how many drivers - and Windows updates - are missing. It will then allow you to download the missing ones, but in order to do this, you'll need to register. This is free and only takes a bare miniute or two, but users who were accustomed to unencumbered use before might baulk.

SlimDrivers also offers you a back-up and restore function, which will be essential if you notice any problems after updating - or if you want to make a copy of your drivers when you format your PC, for example. There is also a driver uninstall facility.

Adding to SlimDrivers' good points is a scan scheduling function. On the negative side, the software has a strangely old-fashioned appearance and once you install your new drivers, SlimDrivers forces a computer restart.

SlimDrivers is a free driver maintenance tool that blows a lot of the competition out of the water.

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In most cases when Windows is running slower, faulty driver installations are to blame. The problem is that Windows automatically stores versions of older drivers just in case you want to roll back but sometimes it these conflict with the new ones.

Drivermax basically backs-up and restores driver in a very attractive and well presented interface. It has a powerful export wizard to help you export the drivers you need to backup by copying the required files to a folder or compressed ZIP file. After reinstalling Windows, the program can ensure that all drivers are reinstalled within 5 minutes according to the developers.

While the process is nowhere near this quick - or straightforward because many drivers may not work properly first time round due to the special way they need to be installed - it is on the whole very easy to use and efficient. It certainly saves you the hours of searching and installing that you'd usually have to go through.

The Import Drivers wizard is similarly straightforward and will take up to 10 minutes depending on how much you've got installed on your PC.

A powerful driver installation and restore tool that is easy enough for beginners and does the job in decent time.

Download DriverMax 6.3 in Softonic

Driver Sweeper Portable is a fast and efficient tool to remove drivers that are left overs from programs that have been uninstalled. It scans your system for programs installed and ensures that it only removes those that are superfluous to further use. Other than cleaning your hard drive, it can also prevent stability and startup problems.

In addition, it's useful to use if you're performing a standard update/remove of drivers from your system. To use Driver Sweeper Portable, all you need to do is uninstall the program you want to remove and then reboot your PC in Safe Mode. Run Driver Sweeper and select the files you want to clean.

Driver Sweeper Portable is a quick and easy way to ensure that your hard drive remains driver free and your programs working with less conflicts.

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Driver Checker uses a simple and familiar interface, with a list of tools in its side panel. You can update, back up, restore, uninstall, and export your drivers, as well as view a history of driver versions and set up schedules scans for outdated drivers.

The best part of Driver Checker is how simple it is to use, and the large database of drivers it has. Driver Checker's biggest problem is that it's outdated itself, and the current version dates from 2008. However, if you are experiencing trouble with old drivers, this is still good way to sort out if drivers are causing your PC problems.

Driver Checker is only recommended if you already have problems, because the majority of these issues are updated by drivers and Windows automatically. However, the application is well designed and very user friendly.

If you have driver problems, like lost sound or unrecognized devices, Driver Checker is an easy to use application that might help.

Download Driver Checker 2.7.4 in Softonic

Device Doctor is a small simple app that scans your hardware (computer and external devices) and checks if there's a newer version of their correspondent driver in the program's online database – which currently includes more than 3 terabytes of drivers for all major computer and hardware manufacturers.

All you have to do is plug in all the devices you want to have checked and click the "Begin Scan" button. Device Doctor will analyze the devices and scan the database for updates. If it finds any, the program provides you with the correspondent download links.

Device Doctor doesn't include any settings or configuration options, as it's designed to be really simple and easy to use.

With Device Doctor you can make sure you have the latest drivers for all your hardware and external devices.

Download Device Doctor 1.0.0.1 in Softonic

Driver Robot allows you to scan your system for outdated or missing drivers, the software that tells your computer how to interact with your hardware. It does this via a simple scan and, when it finishes, presents you with a report on the updates you require. Once it does this, a "Get Drivers" button will appear in the bottom right-hand corner. Unfortunately, once you click on this, you discover that Driver Robot suffers the same problem as many of its competitors - the trial version only scans for problems, it doesn't fix them.

Driver Robot's options are similarly limited, with the Download function disabled in the trial version. On the upside, it does have an export function for use with computers without an Internet connection, and allows you to schedule scans. Driver Robot's help is online only, and it doesn't have any other configuration settings.

The lack of trial version functionality is a major issue. Sure, it could be great at downloading and installing updates, but without even one example of this function, we are unable to judge 50% of the program.

Driver Robot might be great, but with such a limited trial, it's hard to tell.

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Using Smart Driver Updater is easy as pie and it doesn’t require any technical knowledge. Simply launch the program, click the big green Start Scan button and let it take care of everything. Smart Driver Updater will find all the outdated drivers on your system in a few seconds and display them on a list for you.

In this list you can check those drivers you want to update straight away, and Smart Driver Updater will download and install them for you. As driver updating can sometimes cause problems, the program features a built-in backup feature to make sure you can roll changes back.

Smart Driver Updater includes an extensive database with thousands of drivers for all kinds of devices, including printers, monitors, keyboards, mice, sound cards, video cards and more. Bear in mind though that it might not include a particular brand or model.

With Smart Driver Updater, installing and updating drivers is not a long, tedious task anymore!

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Drivers are pretty boring, but backups are really important. If you ever need to reinstall Windows, you'll have to manually find and install all the missing drivers that make your hardware work - unless you use an app like Double Driver to back them up before that happens.

Double Driver is a great app - it's free, portable and, most importantly, efficient. When you open it up, hit Backup. You can then choose to scan your current system or an alternative location. Once you've scanned, Double Driver will have automatically selected non-Microsoft drivers (the ones that will be missing if you need to reinstall your system). You can obviously change this if you want to.

Once you've chosen the drivers, you can then back them up to a standard folder, .ZIP file or .EXE. If you ever need to restore your drivers, open up Double Driver and click Restore. You can then choose the backed up file and load it, restoring your drivers. Just remember that if you do reinstall Windows, keep a copy of the driver backup somewhere safe!

If there is any complaint, it's that Double Driver has no help, but as drivers are a fairly easy area to deal with this shouldn't cause you any problems.

For simple driver back-ups, you can't find any better than Double Driver.

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The problem is that many components, such as graphics cards and other internal chips, have generic manufacturer names that mean nothing to you unless you've got a degree in computing. Unknown Devices solves this problem by giving you a much fuller description of what each component really is.

Most of all however, it's useful for searching through your Device Manager for unknown devices and extracting information from it. This is also useful for anyone who needs to know the exact components they've got installed rather than just a general idea or having to open up your PC. You can run Unknown Devices from a CD or US stick too so it's a useful addition to any PC technician's toolbox especially if you're working on several PCs at once.

Unknown Devices is an excellent way to find out just what is attached to your PC without having to decipher generic names.

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With Driver Backup! you can make a copy of all the drivers currently installed on your system in a snap. Simply unzip the program to a given folder (no installation required) and press on the "Start Backup" button. You can choose to back them all up or select specific drivers, though the latter may take a bit longer as there are no tools to select or deselect drivers massively.

Driver Backup! includes filters to create specific lists for OEM drivers or third-party drivers. The program features another tool called command-line builder, but unfortunately it has not been translated from Italian to English yet.

Drivers Backup! is not only useful for backups: it also lets you restore the copies you've created previously with the program, as easily as the backup process.

If you ever need to create a backup copy of all the drivers installed on your system, Drivers Backup! is a great choice: simple, efficient and easy to use.

Download DriverBackup! 2.1 in Softonic