Hamburg - Software promising to update drivers automatically is of little practical use, a new test has shown. Four programs marketed as fulfilling that function as well as another offering updates among other functions were tested recently by Germany's Computer Bild magazine. All earned flunking grades, the magazine reports.
The testers put together a pool of PCs, laptops, printers, and webcams requiring updates to 61 drivers in all. The best program only identified 18 of them, the worst four.
In one case the procedure ended up disabling the USB port. Another program listed a series of drivers as installed even though the user still had to undertake the update manually.
