Rule for updating drivers

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Hi,

I have Windows XP. My system is running very smoothly. Should I update my drivers or should I leave well enough alone? Some people say update your drivers; other people say if your computer is running fine, leave it be. I don’t know what the best poilicy is.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

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Hi,

I have Windows XP. My system is running very smoothly. Should I update my drivers or should I leave well enough alone? Some people say update your drivers; other people say if your computer is running fine, leave it be. I don’t know what the best poilicy is.

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

I’m sure you’ll get differing opinions, but unless you have some pressing need (ie. a driver is corrupt or you need a newer driver to take advantage of additional features for a particular piece of hardware), leave things alone. You say that your system is running very smoothly, so why try to fix something that isn’t broken?

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I’m sure you’ll get differing opinions…

I do hope that you don’t get differing opinions. If it ain’t broke then try not to break it!

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I do hope that you don’t get differing opinions. If it ain’t broke then try not to break it!

Thanks Rebel and StuartR. I will leave things as they are. Happy Holidays!

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I’m sure you’ll get differing opinions………

I do hope that you don’t get differing opinions. If it ain’t broke then try not to break it!

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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If you do update your drivers make sure you save your current settings. I am working on a computer now that the setting were not saved and it is really broke.

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If you do update your drivers make sure you save your current settings. I am working on a computer now that the setting were not saved and it is really broke.

I use Acronis TrueImage to make a full disc backup at the start of each month, and again mid-month if I am concerned about an anticipated update/ installation. (Incremental backups can be made too.) The beauty of TrueImage is that I can recover down to a single file if needed.

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Quite often a driver update will improve performance in the chosen device, despite everything running smoothly as is now.
It is not a big leap to roll back to a previous driver or uninstall one that isn’t what you thought it would be.
User judgement and decision is required and it is varied from machine to machine and person to person, and based on
their personal knowledge of their own particular machine.

Read the FAQ that comes with the driver.

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Thanks DavidA, Raymond, and CLiNT. Your responses, along with the others, demystify “driver updates.” I was really confused about what I should do when it came to updating my drivers. I will follow the general advice and, as long as my computer is runningly very smoothly, leave my drivers along. Happy Holidays to everyone.

moon1130

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I have read a little about Acronis True Image. Is it easy to use? Does a user’s guide come with it?

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I have read a little about Acronis True Image. Is it easy to use? Does a user’s guide come with it?

Yes, Yes.

You can set up complex scheduling, but it is very easy to create and restore simple backups.

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I have read a little about Acronis True Image. Is it easy to use? Does a user’s guide come with it?

I regard Acronis TrueImage Home as one of those absolutely essential Windows applications that everyone should have on their machines. The most current version, TrueImage Home 2010, is very intuitive to use, very stable and also includes a couple of very useful extras, particularly the ‘Try and Decide’ Module which works, in effect, like a virtualisation sandbox so that you can try new drivers, applications, tweaks and so on before you decide to keep changes that will be added to your real system. If the moderators will allow the mention of another website, I happened to notice that BitsDuJour will have Acronis TrueImage Home 2010 on offer for a 51% reduction to $24.99USD on December 22. BitsDuJour is not the seller, Acronis is, and all transactions are made with the developers sites of software on offer. BitsDuJour merely hosts the offers. http://www.bitsdujour.com/previews/

I endorse what Stuart R wrote.

##On the subject of updating drivers, while “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is generally good advice and, in most situations, can be followed, in the case of drivers it should not be set in concrete. Those drivers which come with the system, from Microsoft and its partners, are being updated all the time and if you subscribe to having your system updated by Microsoft through Windows/Microsoft Update (as of course, being a canny PC user, you do) you will go through at least one driver update under the hood at least every Patch Tuesday. There are good reasons to update drivers, including taking advantage of new technologies introduced by vendors through constant testing and in response to bug reports, security updates and enhancements, conflict resolution – that is, discovered conflicts with other third-party software or Microsoft software – speed enhancements and so on. The best advice is to bear in mind that old saying quoted, but also to do a little research of respected blogs and forums where new driver updates are analysed and either recommended or put down as inconsequential. Remember, Bing search is your friend (Google Search used to be before it became the main portal to the Empire of Satan – lol) and so, whenever a new driver appears for an important piece of technology you have installed or an item of peripheral hardware (almost always worth updating when available, especially video cards and printers) search in Bing (or Google if you’re brave) for what others are saying and make up your own mind. (Sorry to conflict a little with advice by the Moderator but the original poster did ask for opinions on this.)

I hope this helps,

Brian De B

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…(Sorry to conflict a little with advice by the Moderator but the original poster did ask for opinions on this.)
…

Please feel free to contradict any moderator at any time.

The main role of the moderators is to keep an eye out for inappropriate posts and gently deal with both post and poster, we don’t claim to be the source of all knowledge.

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Thanks StuartR and Me Too. I will give Acronis True Image a try. Also, Me Too, I found your response re Updating Drivers to be very balanced. Thanks for that. Both of you have a wonderful Holiday Season and a very Joyful and Prosperous New Year.

moon1130

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Thanks StuartR and Me Too. I will give Acronis True Image a try. Also, Me Too, I found your response re Updating Drivers to be very balanced. Thanks for that. Both of you have a wonderful Holiday Season and a very Joyful and Prosperous New Year.

moon1130

Thank you for the good wishes, moon1130, and I wish you all the best, too. It’s great to be of some help, sometimes, to nice people like you.

Brian De B

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