Before writing my Driver Easy review, I would like to narrate a problem I faced with my latest generation portable hard drive, which I use for storing a backup of all of my important programs and data.
A couple of days ago I have had to format my hard disk drive as it was not responding. I had also, by mistake, deleted the drivers included within my portable drive.
After reinstalling Windows, it would not recognize my portable drive. The reason? Windows 7 did not have hardware drivers required for my portable drive and as a result, could not recognize it. I had to spend quite some time searching online for the driver of my portable drive, and downloading and installing it before Windows could recognize my portable drive.
This is just a small incident that demonstrates the importance of backing up drivers of important hardware devices such as:
Portable Drives
USB devices (this includes WiFi and Bluetooth dongles too)
Motherboard
Audio devices
Graphics cards
Printers
Scanners
Ethernet cards
Remember, different manufacturers of the same type of hardware employ different drivers for their devices. Therefore, drivers for scanners made by Epson will not work on scanners manufactured by Hewlett Packard.
What Does a Driver Software Do?
Typically, such programs should scan the hard disk device of the computer they are installed on, detect the installed drivers, make a backup of the same, and also allow you to save the backed up drivers somewhere else.
This means that you can save the group of drivers on your portable drive or on a cloud server from where you can easily download them, and install them on your computer as and when required.
I had searched online for several easy driver software but decided to go for Driver Easy, as it contained the maximum number of drivers in its database, and the number is growing every month to include drivers for all new hardware being released on the market.
I was also attracted by the mention on their website that the vendor would refund the amount I spent on purchasing their software if it did not solve my problem. I did not have to request a refund, as their software found the missing drivers of all of the hardware on my personal computer, including those attached to it via the USB port such as my external drive.
I personally recommend that you store the backed-up drivers on a cloud server. This will help in case you are unable to access storage devices attached via your computer’s USB port in case their drivers are not loaded along with the default Windows installation process.
What is Driver Easy?
Driver Easy is a program that scans the hard disk drive of your computer for drivers installed by Windows as well as drivers installed by other hardware, and makes a backup of them. It scans its online database for updated drivers and updates the existing drivers with the latest ones.
Hardware vendors update the driver software of their devices on a regular basis. Typically, the installed drivers should get updated automatically, but in many cases, they do not. New users often doubt by asking the question, “is driver easy safe?”, and do not follow the prompts provided by this program to install new drivers after the software has scanned their computer’s HDD and informs them that XX number of drivers are out of date and should be updated instantly.
Software Not Running?
Instead of waiting any longer and inviting disaster in the form of your computer not running properly because of missing drivers, visit the site of the vendor of DriverEasy, and click on the Driver Easy Pro download to download Driver Easy Pro.
After this, install the program and allow it to scan your computer’s hard disk drive, collect all the drivers found therein, and save it to a location of your choice. You also have the option of scanning your other computers with the help of the Driver Easy portable version.
How to Use Driver Easy Portable Version
Follow this simple procedure to gain access to the portable version of this amazing driver software.
- By default, the program installs on C:\program files\Easyware\.. Navigate to this section and copy the entire folder.
- If you face any problems in accessing this folder or if you have installed DriverEasy on a different path, “right-click” the shortcut icon on your desktop, select “properties” and then click on the “shortcut” tab to find out the location where you installed DriverEasy.
- Navigate to that location and copy the entire folder under X:\program files\Easyware\.. where “X” is the partition of your HDD in which you installed the driver software.
- You can now paste the folder on any other computer and double click on the DriverEasy.exe file to launch the program.
Remember, the portable version requires that the target device has .Net Framework version 2.0 or above installed, in order to run. If not, it will terminate with an error message. This procedure is not required on the installed PC, as DriverEasy installs .Net Framework 2.0 during the installation process to its requisite path.
What If I Face A Problem After Installation of the New Driver(s)
When you download the Driver Easy updater and run it, it creates a restore point on the hard disk drive of your computer. If you face any hardware-related problems after the installation of new drivers, simply roll back your computer to that restore point, although the chances of such problems arising are virtually nil.
Now that you have understood the basics of this program, let us understand how to download the software, install it, and use it.
Downloading and Driver Easy setup
Visit the website of DriverEasy and click on the Driver Easy Pro free download link to download an evaluation version (free trial) of the program.
Once you have completed the DriverEasy Pro download process, install it on your computer, run it, and click on the “scan now” button.
The software will scan the hard disk drive of your computer, check all the drivers installed therein, and compare it with its database to determine whether any drivers are outdated.
It then displays the number of outdated drivers and offers you the option to update them. Click on the “update all” option to complete this process.
The program also offers you the option of updating each outdated driver manually. If you are facing problems with a corrupted Ethernet card driver on your computer and are unable to access the internet, use a different PC to download the suitable network driver and install it on the first computer. Do not worry about how to do it, as the software will guide you through the entire process through easy-to-follow on-screen prompts.
How to Use Driver Easy
Using the program is so easy that even those who have no knowledge about drivers can begin using this program after launching it. Launch the program, click on the “scan now” button, and follow the on-screen prompts to use the program.
As I mentioned before, the program also creates a backup of the drivers installed on your computer and also creates a restore point, you can always revert your computer to the state it was before installing the software.
In order to avoid problems, I suggest that you do not use the “update all” option, but update the drivers manually, one by one. Reboot your computer to see if there are any problems, repeat the process once again to install a different driver, and follow this process until you have updated all outdated drivers.
Will It Work for My Version of Windows?
It is a well-known fact that most software developers nowadays create software that will only run on the latest version of Windows. However, this is not the case with the DriverEasy full version, as it is compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 10.
The best part is that there are no separate installers for different versions of Windows. Therefore, you will not find an option like ‘download Driver Easy for windows 10’ on the vendor’s website.
When you download Driver Easy full version by clicking on the download link, you are, in fact, downloading Driver Easy Windows 10, 8, and 7 installer files. The software detects the version of Windows installed on the hard disk drive of your PC and installs the required components. You also do not need to search for something like ‘Driver Easy free download for Windows 7’ as the scenario is the same.
Instead of browsing through their website looking for ‘download Driver Easy Windows 7’, you’ll get a single installer that is comprised of Driver Easy Win 7, 8, and 10.
Do not worry about the architecture of your operating system when downloading the software, as the single download installer that works as Driver Easy download for Windows 10 also functions perfectly for Driver Easy download Windows 7 and 8. It is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit architecture.
This holds true for Driver Easy Windows 8, which uses the same installer as that for Windows 10, and Windows 7. In fact, the software supports Windows 8.1 as well.
My Personal Opinion
Before writing this Driver Easy review, I decided to try out the Driver Easy free version on my PC, running on the 32-bit flavor of Windows 7 to confirm if Driver Easy for Windows 7 actually worked as claimed. I visited the website of the vendor to download Driver Easy free trial.
Before installing the free Driver Easy latest version, I purposely removed some of the drivers from my computer (typically DLL files with a .sys extension found at %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers directory), particularly those driving the USB port of my device and the drivers running my Bluetooth devices and my laser printer, after noting down their version number. For your information, Windows copies the .sys file to the path shown above while installing a driver.
After rebooting my computer I found that neither my computer’s USB ports were functioning nor its Bluetooth device and printers attached to the PC.
I then installed the DriverEasy software and ran it. Bingo! It immediately detected the missing drivers and prompted me on whether I would like to install them or not. It further found five other outdated drivers that I had no inkling about.
On clicking the “install all” option the software took a couple of seconds to create a restore point before installing the missing drivers as well as the latest version of the five other drivers.
After rebooting my computer, I found that the USB ports and Bluetooth devices were running perfectly. I tried printing a trial document and did not face any problems, implying that the software had successfully installed the printer’s driver too.
Support for:
DriverEasy offers driver support for the following irrespective of who manufactured them:
• Audio devices
• WiFi Cards
• Graphics cards
• Ethernet/Network cards
• USB devices
• Printers
• Bluetooth devices
• Chipsets
• Scanners
• PCI cards
• Modems
• CD and DVD drives
My Verdict On This Drivers Easy Software
I have tried several similar programs before, but none of them worked as quickly or as efficiently as DriverEasy did. I strongly suggest that you visit the Driver Easy online site and view the videos over there to understand how easy it is to use this program. You will also find the link to download DriverEasy over there.
As mentioned before, do not search for DriverEasy Windows 10 over there as clicking on the single Driver Easy download link downloads an executive file that works on different versions of Windows.
I strongly recommend that instead of opting for the free version, which has limited capabilities, opt for the Driver Easy Professional download option instead. Although the site contains a link for DriverEasy Professional free download, it is a crippled version of the software.
Considering the fact that you only have to pay $29.95 for a year’s subscription to the professional version, which you can install on three computers, it makes business sense to go for the paid Driver Easy full version download.
When you download Driver Easy pack, which contains the latest driver updates, it includes them in the driver database of the program without any prompting from your end as the software runs in the background.
Conclusion
Ensure that your computer’s hardware works properly and that you do not have to face any problem(s) while using different devices, by visiting the website of DriverEasy, click on the Driver Easy software download link, pay the subscription charge online, and use the license key, received through email to unlock and activate the professional version of the software.
