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driver detective

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Nick Thompson

driver detective

Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.

My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.

And while I am asking smart people dumb questions, does anybody recommend online backup and if so which one. Anybody know about the heavily advertized "carbonite" which goes for six bucks a month?

Thanks

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Roger Critchlow-2

Re: driver detective

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.

My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.

I've never seen a "free PC scan" that wasn't a scam, but maybe this one is the exception. Have you tried Windows Update to see if it has any suggested driver updates?

And while I am asking smart people dumb questions, does anybody recommend online backup and if so which one. Anybody know about the heavily advertized "carbonite" which goes for six bucks a month?

Funny you should ask, I just installed http://jungledisk.com last night, it charges ($2.00 + $0.15/gigabyte) / month. It will do backups of specific folders or allow you to simply copy stuff to the cloud drive. It bills through your Amazon account and stores the data on Amazon EC2.

-- rec --

Nick Thompson

Re: driver detective

In reply to this post by Nick Thompson

I read a couple of reviews of DD on line that say it is ok and does what it says it does, including updating non-windows drivers, like for my stupid music software, and who knows, my stupid email program, as well.

Are there sites whose reviews you trust????

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 11/13/2009 2:34:13 PM

Subject: Re: [FRIAM] driver detective

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.

My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.

I've never seen a "free PC scan" that wasn't a scam, but maybe this one is the exception. Have you tried Windows Update to see if it has any suggested driver updates?

And while I am asking smart people dumb questions, does anybody recommend online backup and if so which one. Anybody know about the heavily advertized "carbonite" which goes for six bucks a month?

Funny you should ask, I just installed http://jungledisk.com last night, it charges ($2.00 + $0.15/gigabyte) / month. It will do backups of specific folders or allow you to simply copy stuff to the cloud drive. It bills through your Amazon account and stores the data on Amazon EC2.

-- rec --

Roger Critchlow-2

Re: driver detective

I looked and I didn't see anything wrong with it. I don't have any personal experience with it.

-- rec --

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 2:49 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

I read a couple of reviews of DD on line that say it is ok and does what it says it does, including updating non-windows drivers, like for my stupid music software, and who knows, my stupid email program, as well.

Are there sites whose reviews you trust????

Nick

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 11/13/2009 2:34:13 PM

Subject: Re: [FRIAM] driver detective

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.

My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.

I've never seen a "free PC scan" that wasn't a scam, but maybe this one is the exception. Have you tried Windows Update to see if it has any suggested driver updates?

And while I am asking smart people dumb questions, does anybody recommend online backup and if so which one. Anybody know about the heavily advertized "carbonite" which goes for six bucks a month?

Funny you should ask, I just installed http://jungledisk.com last night, it charges ($2.00 + $0.15/gigabyte) / month. It will do backups of specific folders or allow you to simply copy stuff to the cloud drive. It bills through your Amazon account and stores the data on Amazon EC2.

-- rec --

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Tom Johnson

Re: driver detective

In reply to this post by Nick Thompson

I have Driver Detective -- yeah, it does change you for the updates -- but I use Driver Robot.

-tj

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.

My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.

And while I am asking smart people dumb questions, does anybody recommend online backup and if so which one. Anybody know about the heavily advertized "carbonite" which goes for six bucks a month?

Thanks

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
www.analyticjournalism.com
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com [hidden email]

"Be Your Own Publisher"
http://indiepubwest.com
==========================================

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

James Steiner

Re: driver detective

In reply to this post by Nick Thompson

A more likely reason for slowness (since your drivers have always been your drivers... why would they slow things down now?) is registry fragmentation.

You may wish to use the free Auslogics Registry Defrag.

PS: Note that it is in DD's best interest to report as many drivers "out of date" as possible.

~~James

On Nov 13, 2009 4:06pm, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
>
>
>
>
>
> Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.
>
>
>
> My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.

Douglas Roberts-2

Re: driver detective

MORE likely is that your Windows box has become a node in a spam botnet, Nick.

--Doug

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 4:09 PM, <[hidden email]> wrote:

A more likely reason for slowness (since your drivers have always been your drivers... why would they slow things down now?) is registry fragmentation.

You may wish to use the free Auslogics Registry Defrag.

PS: Note that it is in DD's best interest to report as many drivers "out of date" as possible.

~~James

On Nov 13, 2009 4:06pm, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.
>
>
>
> My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.

James Steiner

Re: driver detective

Does performance improve when the network is disconnected?
When connected, but not doing much, run taskmgr.exe, go to the networking tab, does the graph show more than nearly no traffic?
If you computer seems too "busy" when you aren't doing anything, then your computer may be a botnet zombie.

~~James

On Nov 13, 2009 6:53pm, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote:

> MORE likely is that your Windows box has become a node in a spam botnet, Nick.
>
> --Doug
>
> On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 4:09 PM, [hidden email]> wrote:
>
> A more likely reason for slowness (since your drivers have always been your drivers... why would they slow things down now?) is registry fragmentation.
>
>
> You may wish to use the free Auslogics Registry Defrag.
>
> PS: Note that it is in DD's best interest to report as many drivers "out of date" as possible.
>
> ~~James
>
>
>
> On Nov 13, 2009 4:06pm, Nicholas Thompson [hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.
>
> >
> >
> >
> > My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.
>
>
>
>
>
>

Nick Thompson

Re: driver detective

In reply to this post by Nick Thompson

Thanks, everybody

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 11/13/2009 5:01:14 PM

Subject: Re: [FRIAM] driver detective

Does performance improve when the network is disconnected?
When connected, but not doing much, run taskmgr.exe, go to the networking tab, does the graph show more than nearly no traffic?
If you computer seems too "busy" when you aren't doing anything, then your computer may be a botnet zombie.

~~James

On Nov 13, 2009 6:53pm, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote:

> MORE likely is that your Windows box has become a node in a spam botnet, Nick.
>
> --Doug
>
> On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 4:09 PM, [hidden email]> wrote:
>
> A more likely reason for slowness (since your drivers have always been your drivers... why would they slow things down now?) is registry fragmentation.
>
>
> You may wish to use the free Auslogics Registry Defrag.
>
> PS: Note that it is in DD's best interest to report as many drivers "out of date" as possible.
>
> ~~James
>
>
>
> On Nov 13, 2009 4:06pm, Nicholas Thompson [hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.
>
> >
> >
> >
> > My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.
>
>
>
>
>
>

Tom Johnson

Re: driver detective

It just seemed to do the best job with the simplest user interface. And, when I had to have my HD reformatted and then a complex job of reinstalling XP, it did a good job of finding some relatively obscure XP drivers for my VISTA-appropriate machine.

-tj

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 8:01 PM, Nicholas Thompson <[hidden email]> wrote:

Thanks, everybody

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,

Clark University ([hidden email])

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

http://www.cusf.org [City University of Santa Fe]

----- Original Message -----

From: [hidden email]

To: [hidden email]

Sent: 11/13/2009 5:01:14 PM

Subject: Re: [FRIAM] driver detective

Does performance improve when the network is disconnected?
When connected, but not doing much, run taskmgr.exe, go to the networking tab, does the graph show more than nearly no traffic?
If you computer seems too "busy" when you aren't doing anything, then your computer may be a botnet zombie.

~~James

On Nov 13, 2009 6:53pm, Douglas Roberts <[hidden email]> wrote:
> MORE likely is that your Windows box has become a node in a spam botnet, Nick.
>
> --Doug
>
> On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 4:09 PM, [hidden email]> wrote:
>
> A more likely reason for slowness (since your drivers have always been your drivers... why would they slow things down now?) is registry fragmentation.
>
>
> You may wish to use the free Auslogics Registry Defrag.
>
> PS: Note that it is in DD's best interest to report as many drivers "out of date" as possible.
>
> ~~James

>
>
>
> On Nov 13, 2009 4:06pm, Nicholas Thompson [hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Does anybody have anything kind or unkind to say about Driver Detective for a year at 30 bucks.
>
> >
> >
> >
> > My computer runs like doing aerobics in a swimming pool full of molassas. DD's free scan says i have 59 out-of-date drivers and offers to fix them. I assume that if I allow a piece of software to correct 59 drivers on my computer, the chance that it wont work when it is done are pretty high.
>
>
>
>
>
>

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org