Automatic driver updates may spell trouble

Automatic software-update tools are great — when they work. However, the more complex and nonstandard your system configuration, the greater the likelihood that an automatic-update tool will go wrong … go wrong … go wrong ….

Take reader Jake Jacoby, for example. All he wanted to do was update his drivers. Then the endless loop started:

"I have Win XP as my OS. I've tried several driver-update programs and always get the same results. They detect drivers that require updating. I use their routines to download the updated drivers. However, for some reason the update never seems to take.

"The next time I run the update program, I get the same results — drivers need to be updated. Can anyone help me with this problem?"

Ah, Jake. You're experiencing both the fullest glory and the deepest horror of the Windows world, where there is an almost-infinite number of possible permutations of hardware, software, and user action. It's a tall order to write update software that can handle such a vast range of PC configurations.

No, strike that: It's impossible. Even Microsoft — with an army of programmers and a wealth of insider knowledge at its disposal — occasionally stumbles and releases toxic updates for its own operating system. And the third-party drivers that Windows Update occasionally offers have a success record that falls somewhere between "marginally OK" and "truly awful."

It's really a testament to clever programmers that update tools work as well as they do on the majority of PCs. Indeed, if you have a fairly standard machine with a typical configuration of hardware and software and use it in fairly standard ways, automated maintenance tools may work just fine.

But for you and most of the people reading this newsletter, chances are your system has been — or will be — modified in some way that alters the standard mix of drivers. Maybe you've changed monitors or swapped out the video board or sound card. Maybe you've added or upgraded a drive or reconfigured the PC's network setup.

Also, you've probably hung all manner of gizmos off the USB ports, whether temporarily (like a camera) or semi-permanently (like a printer). Many of those USB devices require their own drivers. Heck, some of you have even changed your system's entire motherboard, introducing all-new on-board hardware.

And I bet you don't always accept the default settings offered by your software's installation routine. To top it all off, there's a near-certainty that your copy of Windows isn't even close to the same configuration it was on the day you first booted it.

Pile up enough of these customizations and changes, and you can end up with a system that's simply beyond the ability of update software to manage.

What to do? That's the top topic in my column at WindowsSecrets.com this week: Easy, reliable ways to keep your drivers up to date--- and when NOT to update! A few minutes, two or three times a year, is all it takes, and you'll never be hassled by automatic update failures again

The other items this week include:

• Make one file appear to reside in many places
  
  
• Capture "uncopyable" text in dialog boxes and folder windows
  
  
• What's with the 'no room on the server' error?

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