IObit’s developers have designed a software application specialized in scanning, detecting, updating and tweaking all device drivers on your computer. Its name is Driver Booster and promises to offer the necessary optimization tools for helping you manage outdated drivers.
Bringing old drivers up to date is a process that can also be carried out via Windows Update. In order to make sure you get the latest drivers for your hardware, you can enable the automatic updating mode. Additionally, Windows offers a search feature implemented to help you check for available updates.
The solution offered by Windows is simple and straightforward. Driver Booster takes the drive updating the process a step further and provides support for an automatic scan mode upon program’s launch, scheduled scans, automatic scans for newly connected devices, scans for updates for game components, restore points, and an exclusion list with devices that are ignored while updating. Plus, the application keeps separate lists for outdated and up-to-date drivers, so you can easily identify them.
Since our last review of Driver Booster, which highlighted the program’s capabilities for 1.0.0.733 version, there are several improvements that are comprised in the new edition. You get to work with an enhanced driver database, faster download speed (compared to the utility’s previous editions), updated user interface, updated online database, silent installation mode, improved rescue center, game component scans, scan feature for newly connected devices, improved feedback (now supports file attachment when submitting a feedback), as well as support for Windows 10 Technical Preview. All of the aforementioned options are available for free.
User-friendly layout
Driver Booster’s GUI is highly intuitive, reveals a well-organized set of features, and displays two main tabs that you can quickly switch, namely ‘Outdated’ and ‘UpToDate.’
The looks of the application can be altered by opting for a Black or White skin, modifying the transparency with the aid of a built-in slider, as well as changing the font size by selecting from three options available. The adjustments are applied in real time so you can easily check out the differences.
Updating features
When you run the application for the first time, it automatically scans your drivers and displays information about them, such as name, installation date, availability, category (e.g. network adapters, system devices), and colored indicator that highlights the status of each driver (e.g. extremely bad, very bad).
Driver Booster is able to scan device drivers, be they graphic card, audio card, chipset, or wireless and Bluetooth device drivers, as well as game components.
Detailed information is offered for each driver, such as device, type, vendor, driver, provider and version. Furthermore, you may uninstall the current driver (you should be careful about this particular feature as it may lead to related device malfunction).
Driver Booster gives you the possibility to update all drivers for all detected devices with a single click, update drivers for each device one by one, and ignore the selected device from the scan.
The main window shows the driver performance status (e.g. good, extremely bad) and last scan result. Plus, you can initiate a new scan for updates with a single click.
There’s nothing intricate about the updating process. It actually requires minimal intervention from your part, as the program automatically creates a restore point (so you can go back in time in case of system errors), downloads the drivers and installs them. Plus, you are allowed to stop the download process (it automatically continues next time instead of starting from the beginning).
The update may take some time and this pretty much depends on the driver size and download speed. The best part about is that you don’t need to keep an eye on it all the time. You may minimize the application to the system tray while you can go on with your work.
There’s also support for a silent installation mode that you can enable for installing drivers in the background without bothering you with popups or other notifications.
Post-processing actions give you the freedom to automatically reboot or shut down the computer after updating drivers. Depending on the drivers you update, the utility may need a reboot in order to bring the task to an end.
Rescue Center
Driver Booster automatically creates a restore point before you install an updated driver. This restore point allows you to retrieve your system to a previous state and avoid possible issues that may appear while updating drivers.
Several configuration settings
You can automatically launch the application at Windows startup, minimize the program to the system tray when it is closed, change the GUI language, automatically start the scan mode when the tool is launched, schedule the scan to start daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly, and only display drivers that pass WHQL tests (they are part of Microsoft’s testing process).
What’s more, you can make the app automatically scan newly connected devices, scan for updates for game components, pick the download folder (where all grabbed drivers are stored) and backup directory (available only in the Pro edition of the utility), automatically create a restore point before a driver is installed and delete installed driver packages, as well as activate the silent installation mode.
Last but not least, you may create a list with ignored devices (that are not scanned until you remove them from the list) and configure several network settings in order to connect directly without proxy, automatically detect proxy (use Internet Explorer’s settings) or specify a custom proxy server, as well as show reminders when program updates are available.
The Good
We tested the application on Windows 8.1 Pro without experiencing any issues while updating device drivers and game components. The tool worked smoothly, updated drivers very quickly without eating up a lot of system resources, and only needed a reboot in order to finish the task. Updating drives is a sensitive process that may sometimes lead to some system malfunctions but you’ve got the restore point that you can rely on in case of such problematic scenarios.