SlimDrivers Free

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on April 05, 2012

Driver updates? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," describes how many users feel about updating their system's drivers, but these important bits of software tell your PC's components what to do, and it's wise, sometimes critical, to update them regularly. SlimDrivers Free is a simple tool that uses cloud-based scans to identify, download, and help you install driver updates for your system. It creates a personal profile that remembers your drivers and downloads the right ones automatically when you scan your system.

SlimDrivers Free's simple, colorful interface advised us to begin by scanning our system, so we did. The process involves two steps, scanning for updates and reviewing the findings. SlimDrivers found two updates, which doesn't sound like much, but we keep our test system up-to-date. We selected the first update for downloading and chose to ignore the other for the time being. SlimDrivers not only downloaded the update but also unzipped and started it. Better still, it created a restore point and backup so that we could easily roll back any changes it made.

The update wizard is the same one we'd have downloaded had we visited the vendor's site. We needed to click OK now and then to complete the update process, but in no time we'd downloaded and installed both updates. Scanning again showed that our system was up-to-date with no more updates available. Running Windows Update found nothing SlimDrivers had missed. From the program's toolbar we could uninstall drivers, restore changes, back up our drivers, submit drivers for checking, and access the options, including scheduling automatic update scans and viewing the log files. Product support includes an online forum.

Updated drivers help keep your system running safely and smoothly. SlimDrivers Free certainly helps simplify what can be a complex, piecemeal process that some people find intimidating. Every driver's update process is different, and you'll need to pay attention during the process to click OK and allow the update to proceed at various points. Some updates may require a reboot, too. But if you simply follow each update's instructions, you'll be fine, with SlimDrivers Free's help.

SlimDrivers Free - Update your PC drivers automatically - Download Video Previews:

Publisher's Description

From SlimWare Utilities:

SlimDrivers automatically updates PC drivers with real-time scanning and cloud technology. The first cloud-based utility for updating and maintaining drivers, SlimDrivers provides instant optimization of the interaction between a computer and its system components and periperhals, such as printers, graphic and sound cards, motherboards, USB ports, game controllers and other devices and hardware. SlimDrivers scans a PC, identifies the correct drivers needed, and retrieves them from the cloud, automatically installing the most current, precise drivers for each individual PC. SlimDrivers features a one-click, start scan button on its product homepage, which begins the process automatically to scan a PC and identify out-of-date or broken drivers. Then, seamlessly, SlimDrivers creates a personalized driver profile of that PC, and accesses the online cloud database for the most up-to-date, customized driver software.

SlimDrivers starts the installation process automatically, immediately improving the performance of peripheral devices and maintaining the integrity of communication between software and hardware. Because SlimDrivers uses a cloud database, consumers have automated access to the most current updates for their PC drivers, alleviating the need to search the Web for updates or determine whether their drivers need repair. In real-time, SlimDrivers detects when a driver becomes out-dated, then serves and installs the most recent versions, customized for that individual PC. SlimDrivers updates driver software for all popular computer device brands and works on 32 and 64 bit Windows platforms.

What's new in this version: Version 2.2.29035.11202 includes a minor bug fix that allows SlimDrivers Free to better create restore points in Windows 8.