When you get to that point in time, when you decide to upgrade or re-install Windows. Are you sure you have all the old Drivers or install disks lying around still ? Windows does recognize most devices available today, but not always. What do you do when it fails, and your driver installation disks are nowhere to be found ? Another issue to consider is that your device driver may have been outdated, making the old installers disk obsolete. This does by all means not only apply to older systems but may also apply to your brand new hardware.
If you want to stay ahead of this possible future problem, there is a great solution available:
Driver Magician v.3.5
Driver Magician offers a professional solution for device drivers backup, restoration, update and removal in Windows operating system.
Windows Guides’ Rating | Compatible with |
5 out of 5 |
The other day I decided to upgrade my netbook from Windows 7 Starter, to Home Premium (just to be able to change my wallpaper !!) Before I did so, I did a smart thing (for once). I installed Driver Magician and saved a backup of all my drivers. Which, as it turns out, was a very smart move. Once the upgrade was done, I wanted to set the screen resolution to the staggering 1024 x 768 as it had been before the upgrade. Problem was, Windows did not find the driver and would only allow me the standard 800×600. The graphic driver installed on my netbook was developed by Intel and was nowhere to be found on the net. Not on the Microsoft Driver Update site, not on the Packard bell site, not on the Acer site – nowhere.
Luckily I had created backups of all the non Windows Drivers on the computer. So all I had to do was restore the driver and… Voilá
What does it do ?
Driver Magician searches your computer looking for all installed drivers (with all necessary files) and save them to the folder of your choice. Later when you need to, you simply choose which driver to restore. There is also a built-in Driver Database. This allows Driver Magician to search for updates before restoring the old driver, thus making sure you always have the latest driver available.
If somehow you should have a missing device driver on your system – Driver Magician can help you as well, using another great feature, its built-in hardware identifier database.
Backup and Restore options
You may decide what kind of drivers should be subject for backup; all drivers or just non-Microsoft drivers. You can also choose to save the drivers to a compressed file, self-extractor package or create an auto-setup package. Which is very useful, especially if you are to upgrade drivers on several computers at your office.
Pros and Cons
If you’ve read my reviews earlier you know I love to find things to improve. And usually I have something here. But not this time.
The program is fast, very lightweight and is self explanatory. Start it up and within the next two or three minutes you’re done. It is truly hassle free.
Cost
Driver Magician is not free. But the $29.95 you pay for it is really worth the investment. Considering that you won’t have to spend lots of time searching and looking for drivers, ever again.
Also you get free upgrades for life – which of course is what I’d expect.
Want to know more ?
Well, then, just surf on over here.
Or, simply download it, and give it a go !
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About Thomas
Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...
It is a good products, and works well. I think it can use a few UI updates.
Have highlighted icons at the top to show what stage you are in (and put a “Start Backup” icon on the top). I would like to see a “Select All/None Drivers”. I would also like to have a “Create New Folder” option when selecting location for driver backups.
Be on the lookout for an upcoming competition for this product. Where you will be able to share your views directly with the developers.
I am an instructor, but also are assigned to look after the student registration and record system. Helping users is a pain because the IT department is so ignorant. This program should have me to fix most computer much easier.
Driver Magician Lite
http://download.cnet.com/Driver-Magician-Lite/3…
Its free!