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My computer has thrown up the Blue Screen of Death a couple times. I've run a virus scan and a HD scan and my computer is okay with both. I'm looking to see if I have some outdated drivers now. Any recommendations on a good free scanner for this?

Any help is much appreciated
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Celton88: My computer has thrown up the Blue Screen of Death a couple times. I've run a virus scan and a HD scan and my computer is okay with both. I'm looking to see if I have some outdated drivers now. Any recommendations on a good free scanner for this?

Any help is much appreciated
For Nvidia or ATI/AMD cards, it's best to go to Nvidia's or AMD's site as they have a scanner of sorts there that will scan your card and give info on that. For everything else, I am not sure. I remember that CNet used to have this program called Catch-Up for free that did exactly as you describe. Most of those kind of programs seem to be paid versions, from what I've seen, could be wrong though.

For your motherboard, I would also recommend going to the site of your motherboard's manufacturer as they tend to have scanning utilities for your motherboard :)
Post edited January 29, 2014 by JudasIscariot
https://www.slimwareutilities.com/slimdrivers.php

Edit: okay, a link is useless without info. It scans and finds the updates for you, and then prompts you before doing anything else. It'll ask if you want to back-up the registry beforehand making changes, and then make the back-up for you.. Picks up mobo, video, and a ton of other drivers. Hasn't failed me yet.
Post edited January 29, 2014 by HereForTheBeer
Awesome! Thanks for the recommendations guys. I'm downloading the new Nvidia drivers now. I got Slimdrivers and installed it. Apparently I have 32 drivers out of date. Looks like I have my work cut out for me :)

Thanks again guys

I just hope that there isn't any permanent damage from the Blue Screens I got so far.
Post edited January 29, 2014 by Celton88
Defragment your hardrive (edit : system mainly) and check how much free space you have all over the drives.
Post edited January 29, 2014 by Potzato
Note that it lists individual drivers, some of which will be updated as part of a package. You'll see this with motherboard and chipset drivers, where one installation will take care, for instance, USB, networking, built-in audio, etc. In other words, it looks like 32 drivers but you'll likely only need to make 6-8 actual updates since one update might clear 8-12 items on your list of 32. I normally start with those that are obviously chipset and mobo, and then move onto the discrete components like video cards.
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Potzato: Defragment your hardrive (edit : system mainly) and check how much free space you have all over the drives.
My computer says it is only 5% fragmented so doesn't recommend a defragmentation
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HereForTheBeer: Note that it lists individual drivers, some of which will be updated as part of a package. You'll see this with motherboard and chipset drivers, where one installation will take care, for instance, USB, networking, built-in audio, etc. In other words, it looks like 32 drivers but you'll likely only need to make 6-8 actual updates since one update might clear 8-12 items on your list of 32. I normally start with those that are obviously chipset and mobo, and then move onto the discrete components like video cards.
So all these Intel ones I should start with? The System devices?
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Post edited January 29, 2014 by Celton88
I just installed that slimware product hopefully.

It's not identifying presently installed drivers correctly and is attempting to install out-of-date drivers over my newer ones.

Still, it seems to have solid ratings so maybe my machine is an anomaly.
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Potzato: Defragment your hardrive (edit : system mainly) and check how much free space you have all over the drives.
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Celton88: My computer says it is only 5% fragmented so doesn't recommend a defragmentation
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HereForTheBeer: Note that it lists individual drivers, some of which will be updated as part of a package. You'll see this with motherboard and chipset drivers, where one installation will take care, for instance, USB, networking, built-in audio, etc. In other words, it looks like 32 drivers but you'll likely only need to make 6-8 actual updates since one update might clear 8-12 items on your list of 32. I normally start with those that are obviously chipset and mobo, and then move onto the discrete components like video cards.
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Celton88: So all these Intel ones I should start with? The System devices?
Yes, start with those.
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grimwerk: I just installed that slimware product hopefully.

It's not identifying presently installed drivers correctly and is attempting to install out-of-date drivers over my newer ones.

Still, it seems to have solid ratings so maybe my machine is an anomaly.
Geez, I hope I didn't lead you on a bad path. I've used it on two desktops and three laptops, including two from-scratch Windows re-installations, and it's been a lifesaver. If it screws up on you, just use the reg back-up it makes and go the manual update route.
Post edited January 29, 2014 by HereForTheBeer
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HereForTheBeer: Geez, I hope I didn't lead you on a bad path. I've used it on two desktops and three laptops, including two from-scratch Windows re-installations, and it's been a lifesaver. If it screws up on you, just use the reg back-up it makes and go the manual update route.
No serious problems here. Having read a bit more, Slimware may only handle Windows driver versions, and so it may be attempting to replace more recent drivers I have installed from the original manufacturer in some cases.

My USB drivers have gone to hell, and as my keyboard and mouse are USB, I'm finding it a mess to completely replace them as my ability to interact with the computer drops during the process. I saw your post and was hopeful it'd solve the problem.

Maybe I was just unlucky with the drivers I selected to update.
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HereForTheBeer: Geez, I hope I didn't lead you on a bad path. I've used it on two desktops and three laptops, including two from-scratch Windows re-installations, and it's been a lifesaver. If it screws up on you, just use the reg back-up it makes and go the manual update route.
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grimwerk: No serious problems here. Having read a bit more, Slimware may only handle Windows driver versions, and so it may be attempting to replace more recent drivers I have installed from the original manufacturer in some cases.

My USB drivers have gone to hell, and as my keyboard and mouse are USB, I'm finding it a mess to completely replace them as my ability to interact with the computer drops during the process. I saw your post and was hopeful it'd solve the problem.

Maybe I was just unlucky with the drivers I selected to update.
The problem maybe a Windows update, there were problems with Windows Update KB 2862330, I would suggest trying to uninstall that one and it may fix your issues with your USB jacks. It seems without certain other updates (which I can't seem to find personally on the list) it causes issues with USB devices/BSoD/Optical Drive disappearing/etc. I hope this solution is of help to you, as it seems to fix a lot of people's issues with such problems. :)