Ron Schenone

Device Doctor – Update Your Drivers For Free

Posted by on Dec 3, 2009 | 10 Comments

Device Doctor is a free download that can scan a computer and locate updated drivers. The software comes in two flavors, a standard install and also a portable version for checking multiple computers. On the Device Doctor site they describe their product as:

Device Doctor is a freeware Windows application that scans your computer hardware and checks to see if there are new driver updates available for your devices. It also locates drivers for “unidentified devices” in the Windows Device Manager.

NOTE: This tool was designed to be very simple and easy to use.

Just click on ‘Begin Scan’ to detect your hardware; Device Doctor queries our manufacturer driver database and immediately fetches the correct driver files for your computer

So I downloaded the portable application for use on multiple systems and took it for a test drive. I must agree with the description of the software since it is a no brain-er to use. I scanned three of my home systems all using Windows 7 Ultimate, and only one driver was found in need of updating. But one must remember that Windows 7 does a pretty good job of updating drivers on its own. This software may be more beneficial when used on a Windows XP or Vista system.

Do heed this warning. Do a restore point before installing a driver just in case something goes wrong.

Comments welcome.

If you do give Device Doctor a try, let us know your results.

Device Doctor download page.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/theoracle/ the oracle

    Tried this about 3 days ago on a system I use daily,

    The system is an Intel D845GVFN motherboard with a P4 2.8A, 2 GB PC3200, and a Maxtor/Promise SATA TX150+ PCI card. Though the board has a NIC built in, I use a 3C509 3Com PCI card instead.

    The program found the next to the latest video drivers (Intel onboard Extreme Graphics), while telling me that my drivers were not the latest – they are.

    The SATA card was identified as a Promise, but not as the Maxtor branded one, which has a newer driver than the straight Promise card (this one gets the benefit of the doubt).

    The program found the device driver for a 3C509, but since there are a few cards with that designation, you need the exact one, which is not the FX-C model that the program said was the correct one (here I thought I might get some benefit by using the recommended driver, but alas, the reboot after install gave me a couple of error messages, requiring the rollback to the driver I had had previously).

    I’d say that the program has merit, and is on the way, but is not quite ready for prime time.

    By the way, the machine has a fully patched copy of Windows XP Professional.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks Marc.

  • Buffet

    Ron, EVERY time, without fail, I try one of these ‘applications’, it comes up with a long list of missing drivers that I simply cannot do without. Then comes the catch – they wanna charge me an exorbitant fee to deliver them to me! The scam, er, I mean scan, is free, the drivers are NOT. Thus far I’ve survived without ‘em. This program may be legit, but the majority are a lotta hooey.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Buffet,
    I hear you. I did run Device Doctor and the driver download was free. This site may be the exception to the general rule of being charged.

  • http://google Niall O Donnell

    Plzzzzz tell me that its freeee……i googled “free driver updates” and it gave me software called driver fetch….i was excited when it said i have updates and then it asked me for my VISA!!! WTF..im reaaly annoyed that you have to pay for essentials like driver updates…..you have already payed 600 euro for a laptop and then they ask you to pay for updates!!!!

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      Did you click on the link in the article? It is a freebie.

  • http://google Niall O Donnell

    I ran the program and within 30 seconds it told me that i had no updates for my drivers…….yet when i ran “driver fetch” (another program for updating drivers) it found about 20 updates including one for my ATI Radeon HD 3200 videocard……..is “Device Docter” just for external things like controllers or I-pods or does it really update video cards and different drivers on my laptop!!??

  • http://google Niall O Donnell

    so???

    • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

      It worked OK on my system.
      I don’t know what to tell you.

  • http://chris.pirillo.com/ Chris Pirillo

    Not sure if “joke” would be the word I’d use, but… relevant hardware isn’t stationery, either way.