 | By Fred Langa Automatic software-update tools are great — when they work. However, the more complex and nonstandard your system configuration, the greater the likelihood that an automatic-update tool will go wrong … go wrong … go wrong …. |
The trouble with automated driver updates
All Jake Jacoby wanted to do was update his drivers. Then the endless loop started:
- “I have Win XP as my OS. I’ve tried several driver-update programs and always get the same results. They detect drivers that require updating. I use their routines to download the updated drivers. However, for some reason the update never seems to take.
“The next time I run the update program, I get the same results — drivers need to be updated. Can anyone help me with this problem?”
No, strike that: It’s impossible. Even Microsoft — with an army of programmers and a wealth of insider knowledge at its disposal — occasionally stumbles and releases toxic updates for its own operating system. And the third-party drivers that Windows Update occasionally offers have a success record that falls somewhere between “marginally OK” and “truly awful.”
It’s really a testament to clever programmers that update tools work as well as they do on the majority of PCs. Indeed, if you have a fairly standard machine with a typical configuration of hardware and software and use it in fairly standard ways, automated maintenance tools may work just fine.
Related posts:
