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joemonte
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 4:27 pm |
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welcoming committee |
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:32 am Posts: 105
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I have an older Dell 8700 PC (about 6 years old) that is beginning to need some TLC. One area would be drivers. I went to the Dell web site to look for driver downloads and found a message that this particular PC would no longer search the system for drivers. I was disappointed but would still like to check out all the drivers for updating.
I understand that there are apps that will run an evaluation of drivers and either download them or at least tell you what is needed. First, do these apps actual do as promised? Second, are these apps safe? Third, are there any particular ones you would recommend? Finally, is this a particularly a good idea?
As always, thank you for any assistance you can give me.
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jaylach
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 5:33 pm |
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Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9453 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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I would stay away from third party driver update software, I just don't trust them. If the system is running properly with no issues I would not bother with driver updates. Why fix what isn't broken? If you still want to update here is a link that should give what is wanted. Select to look manually. Again, I would not bother unless there is an issue on the system. https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/xps-8700/drivers
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jaylach
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 7:08 pm |
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Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9453 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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To add another option if you still want to update drivers. Open Device Manager and go to properties for the system devices such as video, network, etc.. Go to the driver tab and select to update drivers. Allow Windows to look on-line. If it reports that the best drivers are already installed leave it alone.
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joemonte
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:10 pm |
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welcoming committee |
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:32 am Posts: 105
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Jay, thanks for your response. I wasn't sure how I felt about 3rd party apps like the ones I described. I agree with you about their being questionable. I decided not to use such apps.
I had installed Win 11 on that particular PC using regedit to bypass the requirements. I had dual booted both Win 10 and Win 11. When I tried to download drivers from Dell on Win 10, I had no problems. I found that the machine drivers were all up to date. I will look elsewhere to give the poor PC the TLC it needs.
Again, my thanks for your help.
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jaylach
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 10:17 pm |
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Resident Geekazoid Administrator |
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Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 5:09 am Posts: 9453 Location: The state of confusion; I just use Wyoming for mail.
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Since the Dell driver page states that it is not valid for Windows 11 do NOT try to patch drivers. If the Windows 11 side of the system is doing OK don't mess with it at all. The support page for your system states that there are no updates available for Windows 11 as the system does not meet the requirements. Trying to push updates down the thing's throat could end up giving you a dead system.
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