Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (
More info?)
The drivers on the Micro$oft Update site are not exactly dumbed down, altho that
is often the net result compared to the chipset manufacturer's web site.
I'm fairly certain that Micro$oft imposes space quotas on the chipset and other
hardware manufacturers, who, of course, must pay for Windows Hardware Quality
Lab certification (which is often as useless as tits on a bull). Also, if
Microsoft bends folds spindles and mutilates drivers to fit its software
distribution model, Microsoft wants to support the end result as little as
possible, so the less software the better.
Availability of up-to-date drivers from Micro$oft always lags behind because of
the WHQL certification process and because the manufacturers do not want to pay
and pay and pay for every update submitted to WHQL.
But the punch line is always the same for any driver update: Read the readme
file that describes why the update is being done, and choose accordingly to suit
ones own computing needs... Ben Myers
On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 18:32:21 GMT, Nick <tanstaafl@pobox.com> wrote:
>
>On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 14:04:59 GMT, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, Nate
><none@none.none> wrote:
>
>>Windows Update has a newer driver for my Intel(R) 82865G Graphics
>>Controller in my Dimension 3000. The video currently works fine, I
>>don't play video games... so what advantage would there be, if any, to
>>installing the new driver? Thanks.
>
>If you don't play games and you're not having any problems, updating the
>drivers probably won't make much, if any, difference. Your best bet would
>probably be to go to Intel's web site and see if you can find release notes
>or other information describing the changes in the new drivers.
>
>In your situation, I probably wouldn't bother with the update unless the new
>drivers fixed or improved something I actually used: a lot of video driver
>updates are just for game-specific issues.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>If you do decide to update the drivers, I would recommend seeing if you can
>get the update from Intel's site, rather than from Windows Update or from
>Dell's site. The drivers supplied by Microsoft or by a computer
>manufacturer sometimes are missing features (i.e., dumbed down) compared to
>the ones supplied by the video chip manufacturer.
>
>1. I updated the video driver for my ATI video board using Windows Update a
>week or so ago, and discovered that a lot of the configuration options I
>used to have were gone. I uninstalled that driver and installed the exact
>same driver version from ATI's web site, and that had all the configuration
>settings that were missing from the Windows Update version.
>
>2. When I bought this Dell computer, it came with an nVidia video board and
>Dell drivers. The Dell-supplied drivers were missing a lot of configuration
>options that the nVidia board in my previous computer had. Downloading
>drivers from nVidia's web site supplied the missing options.
>
>Later on, I installed updated drivers from Dell's site, and the
>configuration options disappeared again. I switched to drivers from nVidia
>and the missing options were restored.
>
>
>I've seen posts by others with similar experiences: drivers from Windows
>Update or a computer manufacturer that are missing significant features that
>are present in the drivers from the video chip set manufacturer.
>
>
>So I would recommend using driver updates from the video chipset
>manufacturer (Intel, in your case), rather than ones from Windows Update or
>the computer manufacturer. (My brain must have been on vacation when I
>installed the Windows Update drivers for my ATI board; once I noticed the
>missing options, I knew what I'd done.
)
>
>
>--
>Nick <mailto:tanstaafl@pobox.com>
>
>Nick's First Law of Computer Virus Complaints:
>
> Just because your computer is acting strangely or one of your programs
> doesn't work right, this does NOT mean that your computer has a virus.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram