Manufacturer vs Third Party Driver updater

Have always used CCleaner free version to clean my PC. Recently purchased sense the came out with a driver updater tab. It just about updated all drivers; it was a lot. Then I downloaded and used Lenovo`s System update, it wanted to revert my Realtek 8821AE wireless LAN 06/10/2015 from CC`s updated 02/26/2019 version. And revert my NIVDIA GeForce 840A from update version 02/10/2022 back to 02/01/2016. Which I did just to see any deference. It did state there was some interference from the updated version. Not much changed. Guess should trust the manufacturers driver update software???

P.S. Yes I have over the years I checked on new drivers thru device manager but never was new updates.

It really depends on the hardware you have.

The laptop I'm using at the moment cannot have a Realtek HD Audio driver beyond 2016 without loosing all enhancement... But why would I complaint it works flawlessly... If I install it after Windows updated everything.

Nowadays I Give Windows a go for everything... And only replace what's not doing.

Device manager lost the ability to search for drivers online a long time ago.

Microsoft removes driver updates via Windows 10 Device Manager | TechSpot

If it's graphics card driver, go to Intel/AMD/nvidia.

The rest of the drivers, go to your computer/motherboard manufacturer or Microsoft update catalog.

Sandyt - Wow! never noticed that before! Guess I took it for granted that it was still searching the web.

MaloK - I usually don`t bother either but with the recent windows update debacle happening, and CCleaner offering a driver update I went ahead.

Compumind - Yes, I usually go to the source, but tried something different.

Thanks for all the replies!

sandyt said:

Device manager lost the ability to search for drivers online a long time ago.

Microsoft removes driver updates via Windows 10 Device Manager | TechSpot

If it's graphics card driver, go to Intel/AMD/nvidia.

The rest of the drivers, go to your computer/motherboard manufacturer or Microsoft update catalog.

Microsoft did NOT remove online searching for device drivers, however. Microsoft moved it to being a function of Windows Update. Some drivers will update automatically by Windows Update, and some drivers will appear in the optional section of Windows Update.

My vote for using third party driver update programs is a very strong NO!

NavyLCDR said:

Microsoft did NOT remove online searching for device drivers, however. Microsoft moved it to being a function of Windows Update. Some drivers will update automatically by Windows Update, and some drivers will appear in the optional section of Windows Update.

My vote for using third party driver update programs is a very strong NO!

But it does not update them when it searches thru Windows Update, looks like they just set there and you have to manually select to install?

GM66 said:

But it does not update them when it searches thru Windows Update, looks like they just set there and you have to manually select to install?

Correct. You have to select them to install them. Which is the replace for the device manager option where you would right click on the device and then select upgrade driver, and then search for new driver.