Okay, so this isn’t really “advanced” as I’d like. But this is focused a tad more on the advanced users – support technicians and those who do regular maintenance on their computers.
You see, when updating drivers, we can all go down to the hardware manufacturer’s website, or use Windows Update to do the process for us. And that’s fine. But we want a way to check ALL of our hardware, don’t we? Of course we do. Stop arguing with me.
So enter Device Doctor. It’s one of many solutions to this particular quandary, and one of many I’ll be sure to cover as time goes by.
One thing to note: When downloading Disk Doctor, it asks for your name and email address. On a hunch, I unchecked the box asking if I want to receive their newsletter, and it let me proceed to the next step without entering in my personal information. This is good for some privacy buffs (which should be the vast majority of us).
To note, I signed up my browser with the Web of Trust (WOT), and the site shows full green as of 9/3/2012.
Installation
So after double-clicking on the install file (downloaded as an .exe file), and going through all the UAC prompts, I’m greeted with a familiar, but odious, acquaintance: the screen asking if I want to install a toolbar. I hate these. As you can see, I’ve already click on “Skip this component”, which was NOT checked by default.
The rest of the installation appeared pretty standard. Do you want a desktop icon? Which folder do you want to install in? Click Finish. You know…the usual.
Scanning
Whoa. Device Doctor started a scan as soon as I clicked Finish. Not bad, especially since it took longer to type this sentence than the scan took to complete:
I guess I got some updating to do, huh? But we need to do two things before we update ANYTHING: First, we create a system restore point. Be back in a minute, after I do that…Done.
Second, we need to verify that the drivers we’d receive are correct for my system (I’m running Windows 7 Home Premium x64). Unfortunately, you’ll have to check each one of these separately.
Updating Driver(s)
Okay, I’ve decided to upgrade my Wireless-N adapter. That’s strange – it only allows me to pick one of the 38 needed updates. A little research tells me that this appears to be a limitation of the free version. How annoying.
So I click “Download Driver”, and I’m not given the new driver – I’m brought back to Device Doctor’s website, albeit directly to the driver I need:
Yup. They spent more space on an attempt to get you to buy their Device Doctor Pro and/or donate via Paypal than the driver you need. And it’s still a separated download. But after that, it’s simple to install, right?
Well, yes…and no. It brings you to another page that will eventually start your download, but again asks you to buy the Pro version. BUT, they do present some good advice for device drivers.
It’s getting a little thick, here.
Wait…There’s More?
Out of curiosity, I clicked the “download Device Doctor Pro” link in the above screen. Whaddya know? It let me download it without any further screens, prompts, or payment information! This can’t be right, can it?
It appears it is!
Notice how I can now use checkboxes instead of radio buttons! Let’s see about updating some drivers. I decided to Uncheck all and only update my keyboard, mouse, and sound card.
Ah, crap! I knew it had to be too good to be true.
Clicking “No” closes this message and brings you back to the program. Clicking “Yes” brings you to a window to enter your license key. I don’t have a key, so I click to get one (to see how much it costs):
Maybe you guys can see it. I can’t. How much does this thing cost? I’m being asked to enter my name, email and personal postal code…but still don’t know if it’s within my price range!
So that means a trip to mywot.com (Web of Trust) – what do I find? Quite a few people who have similar issues with this problem. Also, problems with accessing their download directly – one must go through the hoops and ads to download even their free product.
Conclusion
Okay, I have NO PROBLEM with vendors trying to advertise their free product. But this one was over the top. Just to get to a download point of the Pro version, I was hit with no less than four ads, all on the same site, to download the Pro version. And when I get there, they still haven’t said what cost it is.
Thanks, but I’ll pass. And since the Free version is a one-at-a-time download, its only benefit is the scanner, which isn’t worth keeping on my hard drive, to me.
On the WOT site, 10 users had left comments. All but two rated it in the grey or red categories, making this an UNCOOL site.
Final Recommendation: Find another solution.
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