Cool Utility for restoring drivers

[VistaStu]

I just thought id let you know about a cool utility i found for restoring drivers. At this stage in my Vista evolution Im sure I will be reinstalling.

The utility is called Drivermax from http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/index.htm and its free. Here is what it says on the site...

Quote:

DriverMax is a new program which allows you to easily reinstall all your Windows drivers. No more searching for rare drivers on discs or on the web or inserting one installation CD after the other. Simply export all your current drivers (or just the ones that work ok) to a folder or a compressed file. After reinstalling Windows you will have everything in one place!



Most of the situations when Windows is running slower are caused by faulty driver installations. Windows stores all versions of older drivers just in case you want to go back; sometimes it messes up older versions with more recent ones. The Export Wizard will only export the drivers you select by copying the needed files to a folder or a compressed ZIP file.



After reinstalling Windows all drivers will be back in place in less than 5 minutes - sparing you of searching, inserting disc after disk and losing precious time. The Import Drivers wizard allows you to install all the drivers that you exported earlier. The entire operation might take up to 5-10 minutes.



Just one single computer restart will be required after all drivers are reinstalled!



DriverMax is able to display a complete report of all drivers (versions, release dates) installed on your system. This feature can also be very useful when you want to analyze the differences between the drivers installed on different machines.

You might find it interesting.

VistaStu

[LordCR]

This software does something similar but is probably more designed not to update the drivers but to backup and restore them. It is used by professionals for this purpose: Backup Software to Backup Device Drivers for free / Backup Drivers with Driver Backup Software

I used it at work and counted on it as one of my core utilities.

[LordCR]

Nothing is "free", it's either pre-paid by you or someone else, as a friend used to say.

If you're going to use this utility, here is the price you pay for the non-concept "free" (from their privacy policy):

"PERSONAL INFORMATION
In order for the DriverMax software to provide some of the web-related services for the specific computer that it's installed on, the program can transmit information about the computer to the DriverMax.com web site (including: information about driver updates, information about unknown hardware, information about your computer's installed hardware). That information will be used to provide some of the functions of the DriverMax software program and web site, to compile statistics (including, but not limited to "most popular hardware" and "best hardware for Windows Vista") and may be used to perform other actions which benefit the DriverMax user community. This information is only sent for some of the web-related functions. You may also need to create a user account. The DriverMax program or the DriverMax Agent may show an ad window from time to time. No personal information is used or collected for displaying the ad. The same ads are shown to all DriverMax users. Accepting this EULA means that you agree to send this information to the DriverMax.com web site and give DriverMax.com permission to use this information, and that you agree to create an account on DriverMax.com."

[LordCR]

This software is dangerous.

Their web site says it's for "Windows Vista" but doesn't say which versions. I have 64-bit Vista. It installed and ran. When I tried to update a driver it identified as old and having a newer version, I looked and noticed the driver was extracted from Windows XP. WTF!?

As I was about to close it to uninstall it, due to what I saw above with the XP driver, it crashed and started a chain of opening over and over, consuming memory. Every time I'd click the ok button, it would open another, and it wouldn't wait for me to click the button, I had to logoff to stop it.

Then when I logged in, I saw a pop up saying that words to the effect of "Drivermax doesn't work on Vista 64, we know this, don't contact us about this, we're working on it". If they knew that why the F*ck did they install to begin with?!

After uninstall, I found a lot of leftover files and registry entries. When a program is uninstalled, everything it installed should be removed.

This software is too unstable and dangerous. Not well programmed and lacks basics checks and balances.

If you want some good driver software, check out what I posted above. I've used that. It works well and is used by IT professionals in the industry.

-LCR