Best free tool to identify outdated drivers - will download manually

Which driver manager free trial does the best job of identifying all the out-of-date drivers in my Win 10 Pro 64 system? I'm OK with doing manual downloads and installs, but I need to to know which drivers to work on.

I'm getting BSODs now every 2-3 days , and I've already run sfc and dism. My system is up to date with MS updates.

So far I've tried three driver manager free trials, but comparing results, but I get very different numbers of outdated drivers, and some drivers are OK with one driver manager, but not with another.

Someone in this forum recommended Snappy Driver Installer, which looks nice, but most of the driver downloads resulted in error messages, and nothing actually got installed.

x509

Driver updaters are decried by most- there are threads here reviewing them as 'snake oil'. Tests done by members have demonstrated inconsistency using them- they are more likely to do harm than good.

Put another way- if your PC is working, don't try to 'fix' it - unless you know precisely and exactly what you are doing and the expected outcome.

Given you are experiencing BSODs, I'd suggest you post in the BSOD section, observing the posting requirements and using the data collection tool.

dalchina said:

Driver updaters are decried by most- there are threads here reviewing them as 'snake oil'. Tests done by members have demonstrated inconsistency using them- they are more likely to do harm than good.

Put another way- if your PC is working, don't try to 'fix' it - unless you know precisely and exactly what you are doing and the expected outcome.

Given you are experiencing BSODs, I'd suggest you post in the BSOD section, observing the posting requirements and using the data collection tool.

Dalchina,

Many, many thanks for this advice. I somehow got smart and saved off to a different location the last 3 or 4 minidump files. It was annoying when I got 3 BSODs all in a row while Windows was booting up, and only the last one was saved in \Windows\Minidump.

x509

Hope it works out for you - there are some good people helping here.

dalchina said:

Hope it works out for you - there are some good people helping here.

I have already uploaded the both Collectors to a new thread in the BSOD forum and someone engaged almost immediately.

the Beta Collector is amazing for all the information it collects. For example, I had no idea that 2 of my 4 RAM sticks aren't showing up in Windows. I had gotten replacement RAM from Corsair because errors with the RAM I purchased originally. Now it appears that 2 of those sticks aren't working. I never would have checked otherwise.

x509

Sounds good for a start.. and of course all your RAM needs to be compatible. You'll get some sound help in that thread.

Driver Easy Free

x509 said:

So far I've tried three driver manager free trials, but comparing results, but I get very different numbers of outdated drivers, and some drivers are OK with one driver manager, but not with another.

Some managers download WHQL drivers, others beta and some are so desperate to download the latest, that they download compatible drivers, which do not really support the device, so it can result in loosing the sound or even cause the black screen. Once you get the version number, you can download WHQL from MS.

Microsoft Update Catalog

I used to use IOBit driverbooster until it gave me a bad driver. I then tried driver easy & it found more drivers than DB & didn’t offer the bad driver.