14 DAY TRIAL // Having outdated drivers for computer peripherals can sometimes take its toll on the system itself causing crashes, or impact overall performance of the machine. SlimDrivers has been created as an easy-to use solution to keep all your drivers updated to the latest version.
The application is free of charge and installs quickly, guiding you through standard installation screens. A simple interface ensures that working with the program does not require advanced computer knowledge. All its menus are available in the upper part of the window and cover options for searching the old drivers on the system as well as uninstalling them and backup and restore features.
There is one thing that has to be noted from the start: SlimDrivers claims it can also detect updates available for the operating system as well as for software installed. So during the scan process it will not look only for outdated drivers.
Under the first screen you’ll be given details on the operating system and the CPU and RAM it is running on. Additionally, you’re offered the date the latest driver scan was performed. If you already performed a scan the program will also let you know that there are items that need to be installed.
During our tests the verification did not take long, but only old drivers were detected. Outdated software and Windows updates were not picked up by SlimDrivers’ radar, despite the fact that Windows Updates applet alerted us of 10 important updates and we had old editions of VLC, Firefox, Opera and Total Commander on the system.
On the upside, it managed to find all the drivers available on the test system in need of a refresh. On the same note, it will make available a download link for the latest driver sparing you the search for the right file. Additionally, it will start the installation process automatically.
In case of a false positive, or if you want to keep an older driver version, you can check the item to be ignored. Contrary to our expectations (which dictated that future scans will not count it as an update) the app still showed it as an update.
On the downside, if you interrupt the download process or the installation of the driver SlimDrivers will consider the item installed and future scans will not detect it as outdated. However, a failed install is not something that would trick Windows Device Manager which shows the actual version of the driver used by the system. Not even a system restart could make SlimDrivers reconsider the scan results.
Fortunately, there is a way to complete the update of a failed driver install, as the app stores all the downloads and backups in C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Local\SlimWare Utilities Inc\. So you can run the installation file from there. This is also the storage for backups and log files.
Just like Windows Device Manager, SlimDrivers allows you to uninstall drivers on your system. These are stacked in categories and as soon as you select an item the program shows important details like the device name, provider, date of the release, version, file and ID, all in the same place and within easy reach.
Still on the upside, whenever the installation of a new driver is initiated the program asks if you want to create a restore point before proceeding. Doing so and backing up the current setup makes for a hefty safety net that can get you out of the jam in case something go wrong. Creating a manual backup for individual drivers or all of them is also available.
The set of options accompanying SlimDrivers is not complex, but sure comes in handy, especially the scheduling function that lets you run scan tasks with a specific frequency. Moreover, the “Options” panel is where you can set the backup location or the folder restoration should be done from.
SlimDrivers comes as a comfortable and free way to keep your drivers up to date automatically. However, there are some issues that should be fixed, and another one we noticed is that it disables Windows Updates when downloading and installing a new driver. It does promise to restore the situation when finished; but the issue is that Windows Updates will be reset to the recommended settings instead of what the user chooses.
Backup and restore options allow you to revert to the previous configuration in case something goes wrong. Also, creating a restore point makes it even tougher to suffer from an aftermath caused by SlimDrivers. Ignored items are still presented as issues and will keep the SlimDrivers PC status in the red zone. However, it falls short in some areas, like displaying system updates or alert you of the outdated software on the computer.
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