Beware the Device Driver Scam - Comments Page 2

In January 2014 I kept seeing ads for Driver Update that included the words "Microsoft" and "recommended." I was very suspicious...until one day I saw it appear on a site that I trusted. Big bad mistake. I figured that if it were on that particular site, it must be OK. There were hidden programs as well. The so-called driver update has caused some of my programs to flicker and flash. I've managed to get most of the crap off partly through the service contract with my computer manufacturer as well as my own meager knowledge and some help from some other tech-type folks. I learned that just because an ad appears somewhere does not mean that the place where it was advertised is not guaranteeing it. Let the buyer beware. Not gonna be twice burned. Once was too much. Now if I think of updating a driver, I go to the website of the manufacturer only.

Thanks for a great article Bob.I see a lot of these pop up adds lately on a lot of reputable sites, so it is easy to see how people can get scammed by these pop ups just by the site they appear on but a pup is a pup and by ignoring them they won't go away but they won't do you any harm either. thanks for a great article.

i do not have a problem with popups. i do however have a problem with a page that comes up delling me my browser needs updating. i have the latestand version of firefox windows 10 updated from 8.1. previously had 7. the problem began with 8.1 when it was installed. i can get by it by hitting open in my browser, but it is a pain in the butocks. anything i can do to get rid of it?
thanks

When my Dell laptop was only eight months old, the Dell site had a long list of newer drivers. It recommended bundling them with the Dell software, download together, and install all at once. Did that and total lockup. BSOD and could not boot. Tried everything and finally called Dell. Still under warranty so they talked me through a restore. Never did that again!

Thank you Bob.
As for the part that you are discussing about the so-called driver updater program, I ever got such one really nice and free without any fee.
That time, my computer printer can't work properly and someone recommend to update the driver. Then I got the software DriveTheLife, a free driver updater tool by chance.
It proved to be free and resolved my printer problem.

Device manufacturers sometimes exploit the introduction of a new operating system to force you to buy a new device by deliberately avoiding to provide a suitable driver.

While this practice is not a scam, it is outrageous, particularly when it is done by a large manufacturer.

E.g., when I moved from Windows XP to Windows 7, I had to discard an HP scanner because HP did not provide a driver for Windows 7.

I bought a new scanner but I did not buy it from HP.

what about Iobit's driver booster that only installs signed drivers and all for free

I use Driver Buster free.
After scan you can see which one of the drivers is out of date, also updating is by your decision and by your choice. Downloading is not as fast as with the paid versions, but the installation is without any problems doing restore point before installation.
Satisfied.

Quite eight, it has happened to me, the thing to do, leave that page right away, close your browser and clear your cache out. Then start over, as this can be a bad dangerous thing...

A friend of mine had fallen for this, we spend nearly 2 hours (that included 112 Microsoft updates) fixing this. What had happed was that his CD/DVD player driver was corrupted and not there in “(My) Computer” but it was in the driver with and error 39. I came across this article on Microsoft: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_other-protect_scanning/is-pop-up-update-drivers-a-legitimate-message/1318be2a-fb3e-4b14-acd5-c08c8839b2f4?auth=1 Step 3 worked for us. Just a little RegEdit that was all – after of course having uninstalled “Device Driver” using Ccleaner to do the biz.

spoke to tech support guy O. smith asked where was located told me Boca Raton. I asked him if he ever of Stuart where I live about 40 miles away he said whats Stuart I hung up