Driver Detective 6 Review
Published by Codrut Nistor, on August 20th, 2007 9:37 pm, in the categories: Reviews
How often do you find yourself overwhelmed by the updates you forgot to perform on your computer? I am not talking about the software updates of your operating system that can be performed automatically, or manually, as you wish...or even not at all, if that's your will. What I have in mind is something that's often the cause of various issues with our computers, yet too many of us don't give proper attention to - drivers. From some multimedia keyboards to various external storage devices, we need to have the latest drivers installed on our system to avoid problems. But we all have better things to do than check for the latest updates, so today I'll tell you about Driver Detective, a program that can take care of this task for us...
Setup
Coming inside a 4.8MB setup package, Driver Detective 6 is very easy to install, and there's nothing special to be mentioned about this part. There is no Google Toolbar or Desktop Search to install or not, no email trial registration, only a license agreement that you should read (but nobody does, in most cases), and some "Next" buttons to press, as usual.
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Interface
As you can see in the screenshot to the left, even the message boxes have the "Wow! factor", and the toolbar that can be found inside the main window has six icons with obvious functions, from Register to Vista Ready? and Help. Although a lot of people have problems installing some drivers, I am sure that using Driver Detective will be a pleasure for all.Features
When the program opens for the first time, you have to choose the Manufacturer, Model and Family of your computer, if you own a brand name PC, or simply check Unknown, for a custom build.
The next natural step is to press the Scan Now button and wait for this software detective to gather all the information it needs about your system's hardware and software.
The good part is that once the previous operation is complete, you can download latest drivers for your system...or you should, because the trial version is very limited. You won't be able to download drivers or change the program's settings.
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Well, at least the Vista Ready? tool is working. As its name says, this tool can be used to check if your computer is capable of running Windows Vista using the classic interface, as well as using the new Aero one(system requirements for Aero are pretty high, when compared to the basic Vista interface). These being said, your time has come to grab this interesting download, and mine, to draw the conclusions.
The Good
Driver Detective is a program that looks great and can save you a lot of time. It has access to a huge drivers database and is very easy to use.
The Bad
The trial version is useless, when considering the goal of the full program. Also, I think the price is just..."a little big".
Conclusion
If you're one of those that hate looking for drivers in the strangest places, you don't have to leave no web site untouched until finding the latest ones your computer needs. All you have to do is grab Driver Detective and let it do this job for you, so if you have the money, go ahead and make a smart buy!
Developer: PC Drivers Headquarters, Inc.
Price: 29.95$
Trial Link: Download
6 vote(s)
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I have found this program to be a complete waste of time. It is a an expensive piece of junk. It appears to run alright until you try and and download and install the drivers that it claims to be updating. If you manage to actually install a new driver, you will be told that your existing driver is a later version than the one provided by Driver Detective. Support is non existing nor do they even bother to acknowledge your request for assistance.
Take care with this. I bought it and would have been in big trouble had it not been for Kaspersky keeping an eye on what was going on. One driver (at least) was infected with the 'Invader' virus. Don't use this unless you have a good security system installed.
Did you get it from the official provider?
Try to scan the file Kaspersky claims to be infected at www.virustotal.com. All antiviruses provide fake alarms sometimes, and Kaspersky is no exception. Even more, if that driver is really infected, this is the fault of the hardware manufacturer for allowing it to slip onto its website, and not Driver Detective's.
The software does not seem to have an uninstall feature and when I went to try and unstall it from my control panel, it is not listed. Fishy to me. Wouldn't risk it, I still can't get it off my computer
double checked and there's no uninstall for this software and support is useless
Did you try to simply go to its folder and look for Uninstall.exe, or in the Start>Programs>Driver Detective folder, where a link to the Uninstall program should be available? I know I installed it, I played with it, and then I removed it, so it's impossible to have a different behavior on your computer!
Yes I tried Start>Programs>Driver Detective folder, where a link to the Uninstall program should be available but it's not there. All that shows is the name of the software. Click on it and the program starts. It asked me to do a software update -- I clicked "no" and it immediately shut down. Any suggestions?
Try going to Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs and find Driver Detective. You should be able to uninstall it from there. Good luck! ;)
And let us know if it`s work :)
http://www.revouninstaller.com/
this is the best uninstaller i have ever used. you will be able to uninstall this program for sure
Thanks, bobbarker!
i agree...what a waste of my money. it sounds great at first until you have to do all the leg work to download the drivers it detected as being out of date. customer service is non existant and i'm disputing my payment with paypal. the program does not even correct itself when a driver has been properly installed.
Thanks for telling us too, tonyh!
If they go to a lot of trouble making you think it's a FREE trial download and then hit you up for 30 odd bucks before you can do anything then I don't trust them. Neither should you. Misleading from the start, dishonest later on I'll bet.
what an incisive comment, right on! hear hear etc.
Free trial is exactly what that means - limited features/time of use, pay to fully unlock the software. I think you got it all wrong, Treviboy. I don't like very limited trial versions, but that doesn't mean "free trial" is a lie, as long as you can download, install and run the software! ;)
No KodrutZ, you are wrong.
A free trial means a trial of the whole program at no fee. If I want to buy a car I don't make do with looking at it in the yard and then pay to take it for a test drive. A possibly spurious check of my drivers with nothing afterwards is not a free trial. If you think it is then I have a Grand Canyon I'd like to sell you.
You attitude makes you a poor consumer.
My original posting stands.
Trial means you can try it for free with no feature limitations, so it should be called a demo instead.
I couldn't agree more. I was close to purchasing this until I read all of the blog. Thanks guys for posting. I feel the same way. If it is a free trial, it should at least give you all it's got for at least one try. Too much crap on the market and my money is hard to come by....HRB
I have the same problem as laurelady,the program doesn t have an uninstall in my control panel either.Another marketing ploy of making it harder for most people to uninstall therefore more likely that you will go ahead and buy it.I wouldn t buy it for that reason alone.
Actually I take back what I said as I have found Driver Detective in my control panel its registry booster that won t allow me to uninstall it,after typing in remove sofware it says it is anable to do so...
I am trying to contact them regarding to your problems, and will check back to you after I'll receive the reply.
I've redirected your comments to Mike Hurd, the owner of Driver Detective. He said he will provide you with the right solutions for your problems.
I've been using Drivers Detective for 6 months now, and I'm pretty happy with it. My Toshiba laptop came with Vista Basic, which turned out to a very crappy OS, so I downgraded to XP -- only to find out Toshiba doesn't list any XP-compatible LAN or sound drivers for this lappy on their site. So for me this proggy was a godsend, it found XP compatible drivers for me in like 5 minutes.
BTW, I bought this software with a 30% discount coupon here:
http://bestpricepicker.com/lowest-price-discount-coupon-driver-detective_15691-1.html
(I've nothing to do with this site, just posting if anyone's interested.)
Thanks for sharing :)
Yes, it's true. I've encountered the same problems as you. But I didn't switched back to WinXP because I hate WinXP now. The program did it's job very well for me either.
It is worthless it has no drivers that you cant get yourself and it will install older versions of drivers or try to if windows doesnt warn you you are trying to do so i wish I had never downloaded it and would like to have my $30 instead.
What does "free trial" mean for you? To be able to scan and update with all those drivers for free? What will the software developer earn from this?