http://www.majorgeeks.com/SlimDrivers_d6737.html

[peterr]

Hello
I noticed, in the popups where you enter the topic, that someone had trouble with system restore and had Norton. I tried to tell them they have to disable the tamper protection in Norton to perform a restore but I was denied access - I hope they get the message.

My issue has to do with Slimdriver. It is recommended by MG and I watched Tim's video which was really comprehensive. Before I dive in, has anyone had any experience with that program they wish to share with us.
Thank you
Peter

[iain.t]

Hi Peterr,
To all sense and purpose it is not recommended to use any driver finding utility, I always advise to use the manufacturers websites and if it is a OEM like Dell/HP/Toshiba ect... use your machines info i.e make/model/service# to search for the correct drivers for that system, only let Windows update its own software, not any third party software/hardware as that too can cause conflicts. Though slimdrivers is a good program, and I have tested it myself, it does throw a lot of false possitives out about drivers needing updating, but all it does is replace the original driver version, but from a different location, so if your system is up to date it is of no use!!! .
If you are having difficulty locating a certain driver or if you know of anyone in the future please make a new thread here, with the request for help before you use one of those driver finding utilities, they can do untold damage to machines if the wrong type of drivers are installed by them which could turn out to be quite expensive .
I hope that has been informative enough for you ... the general caveat here is .... IF IT AINT BROKEN DON'T FIX IT so please STAY AWAY from utilities like slimdrivers!!!!!

iain.t

[peterr]

Well, I certainly do appreciate your taking the time. I have however run the scans and luckily now have 100% ok.
The machine is working perfectly and I have tied all programs etc. I will hope more people jump in and comment.

[peterr]

I have gone to the Dell site which recognizes my machine but to my knowledge does not run a scan to see what I currently need. I could be wrong about that because it identified my pc.
I do however see many recommended and quite a few urgent downloads in every category. I wonder if Dell knows what Slindriver installed?

[iain.t]

You would in "my opinion" be best to restore your PC to before slimdrivers made these changes, it makes a restore point when it first installs itself, then go back to the Dell download site and update your system from there.

iain.t

[peterr]

Thanx Lain. I have to think this over. I hope someone else jumps in to help with this decision making.
I hear you but I hate to compound things.

[iain.t]

Ok. maybe one of the senior members like caliban/ david gp or dlb will jump in and give there advice.

iain.t

[peterr]

I have my fingers crossed as it is not a small decision.

[peterr]

Lain et al
I wrote to the Slimdriver forum but have not heard.
I performed an image recovery with Acronis and updated all so I am ok now.
That was a terrifying experience with Slimdriver. I read some posts in their forum and I think given time they could help someone like me out.
I wanted to tie up the thread.

[iain.t]

Hi Peterr,
I hope that this experience has learnt you a valuable lesson ?? My advice is as stated as before "NEVER USE DRIVER FINDING UTILITIES" they can render your machine useless or at the least "Very Unstable", if you ever need help with driver issues and are unsure about what to look for and install please do not hessitate in creating a thread here, the advice that you get from here can be "second to none" and very educational .

Regards iain.t

[peterr]

I will not update drivers unless I have problem. usually do come here to work issues out. I will download and install them at the manuf. site if at all.
I am curious why MG recommends this Slimdriver so highly and by the admin. A video is evn presented which strongly advocates the use of it. I knoww about caveat emptor etc but this is not consistent with the usual sound advoce I get here.
What do you think about the free Acronis for Western Digital owners?

[iain.t]

I honestly could not give you my opinion on the new acronis imaging utility for western digital as I have never used it, a lot of drive makers are now making their own imaging software, Seagate being one of them though I have never used it there has been lots of comments made about how good it is and it "does what it says it does on the tin", and its free!! I suppose it would be best to use the manufacturers own brand of imaging for their drives, as that's what it has been tested on .

iain.t

[peterr]

Originally Posted by iain.t

I honestly could not give you my opinion on the new acronis imaging utility for western digital as I have never used it, a lot of drive makers are now making their own imaging software, Seagate being one of them though I have never used it there has been lots of comments made about how good it is and it "does what it says it does on the tin", and its free!! I suppose it would be best to use the manufacturers own brand of imaging for their drives, as that's what it has been tested on .

iain.t

>>Freebies for WD are 7+8 which are not compatible with Win 7. All set now.

[DavidGP]

Hi Peter

I'm like Iain and likely told you in email also that I hate with a passion most if not all driver finding or updating utilities and for a few reasons, one as already pointed out by Iain in that no need to really update drivers if not really to fix an issue

Caveat is maybe update on a regular basis are Graphics as that can fix issues in games and graphic apps, and networking as those can fix issues in throughput.

Second is that driver finding apps only find in the main unified drivers as in a generic one and not the customised ones that many OEM makers as in DELL, HP ACER etc use as that would mean that the apps makers would have to have 10000s of drivers to cover all scenarios and they dont, which is why we see a hell of alot of issues with folk after running these apps having driver issues, especially with Audio, as Audio is in many cases a custom area of drivers as in what I mentioned earlier in OEMs specifying custom drivers for their PC/Laptops.

Always best to look for updates to drivers from the maker of the PC or Motherboard only.

I will be devils advocate and defend driver finding apps in on area only, in that they could be in some apps a great way to scan for what the driver types are for a PC if you have say re-installed Windows and the OEM of the PC/motherboard does not list the drivers now as the machine is old, then with this info you can search for drivers.

But on current PCs its best to look at the makers site first and never update drivers if you do not need too as it fixes nothing and may cause more issues when you had none to start with, on my current PC which is a year or so old the only drivers I have updated are Graphics and Networking, here endeth the lesson 101 driver updating

Glad to hear that Acronis came up trumps again and I didn't know about the lite version of Acronis on WD drives but if it works good then that's a big plus and its then an app that your happy with as it performs its function so stick with that.

[peterr]

Originally Posted by peterr

>>Freebies for WD are 7+8 which are not compatible with Win 7. All set now.

>>Aain letting you and all know the free Acronis worked with my WD HDD and I have Win 7 x64. I think Seagate and maybe Maxtor too not sure of Maxtor.

And David, I have abandoded driver updating - thank you for the information in your post.
Both Aronises work fine, too.

[DavidGP]

Hi Peter

Good stuff on the drivers and great news on Acronis too, happy computing!

[iain.t]

Hi peterr,
Thanks for the update I am glad that acronis has worked for you and, that everything is running ok now, me and David always advise against the use of driver finding utilities, unless, as David has pointed out, it is to only name unknown drivers so that you can search for them .

Iain.

[tigersmustlive]

Originally Posted by peterr

Hello
I noticed, in the popups where you enter the topic, that someone had trouble with system restore and had Norton. I tried to tell them they have to disable the tamper protection in Norton to perform a restore but I was denied access - I hope they get the message.

My issue has to do with Slimdriver. It is recommended by MG and I watched Tim's video which was really comprehensive. Before I dive in, has anyone had any experience with that program they wish to share with us.
Thank you
Peter

Sorry so late in responding but just wanted to say I have performed more then one system restore (with Norton running!) and they have always performed excellently. Just my experience in the matter.

[peterr]

Disabling tamper protection to restore is logial as Norton does not want to be tampered with.
However, if you have had no trouble not doing so that is good to hear.