Driver Updater - What we're working on next

[Guest Stephen CCleaner]

Hi everyone, we are monitoring customer feedback from this forum and other sources. I wanted to take the opportunity to apologise to every customer who has had a negative experience with Driver Updater. This is certainly not our intention, and we are working very hard to avoid CCleaner creating problems instead of solving them.

If you have encountered an issue and you have not been able to resolve it by:

1. Restarting the PC after an update
2. Reverting the driver update from within CCleaner Driver Updater (see guide - sometimes this can require a restart to complete the reversion)
3. Ensuring Windows is up to date
4. Going back to a System Restore point (Ctrl+R, then type "Recovery")

...or if you need assistance with any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our customer support team who will do their very best to help you get your PC back back to normal. If it's still fresh in your memory, please try to note down the driver that was updated (if known) and how you first noticed something wasn't working as it should. This will be very helpful for our investigations, thanks!

Aside from this, we are committed to making this the best Driver Updater out there and are working on various improvements, including:

1. Reducing the likelihood of failed/incomplete driver updates, and the need to attempt updates multiple times
2. Making the button for reverting drivers more obvious
3. Making it simpler to revert only the drivers that relate to an issue you're having
4. Making it easier to report problems from within Driver Updater
5. Gathering more useful device/driver information when problems occur to facilitate speedy statistical analysis and help us to make driver definition improvements much more rapidly
6. Providing explanation for why a certain driver version is offered
7. Fixing when scanning gets stuck
8. Improving messaging for certain types of connectivity errors

[Lighty]

I have been a long time fan of paid version of CCleaner since it started.  This new addition is a mess, I personally will not try it again!

[Guest Stephen CCleaner]

On 29/06/2021 at 16:22, Lighty said:

I have been a long time fan of paid version of CCleaner since it started.  This new addition is a mess, I personally will not try it again!

Thanks for the feedback, Lighty. I've deliberately left this thread open for comment because to make Driver Updater better we have to be open to listening to what our customers think of it. What in particular should we look to improve?

[chrisbrousseau]

in my case - driver update did not bork my system, but there are many drivers listed as "out of date" even though my installed version is greater than the "latest" version reported available by CCleaner.    Perhaps this results from manually installing latest versions from PC component OEM sites (e.g., Intel, Asus) -- so CCleaner should look at multiple sources for popular component makers, or at least take the stringified versions from the reportedly installed and latest versions -- and check the numeric equivalent on each segment of the version numbers before reporting a driver is out of date  (e.g. installed 10.1045.2 is greater than 10.1030.5).

 

example attached

[jjroper]

You sure are recommending a LOT of time spent fixing problems that ccleaner is making. While that is easy to do (recommend system restore, rebooting, reinstalling etc.), when ccleaner itself should have a way to fix the problems it causes.

Also, the explanation should be better. In the driver updater, it looks like many updates ccleaner recommends are NOT recommended by the computer manufacturer - so who is correct? How, and why, does ccleaner find and recommend updates that neither the manufacturer nor Intel recommends? That should be also in the explanation when updating. You could even have "essential" updates, "useful" updates, "recommended" updates, and "updates that don't do much." That way, users will understand what's going on much better, and then also be able to explain better to ccleaner when something goes wrong.

[durangod]

same as above here, drivers show out of date when they are not.

 

[redwolfe98]

i like ccleaner's new driver-updater.

i have an ASUS AMD ROG STRIX X370-F GAMING motherboard and ASUS is s-l-o-w to update the drivers for it, which has bugged me for a long time. now, all of my drivers are up-to-date.

with something like the driver-updater, you have to anticipate that there could be problems after updating the drivers, and be prepared to fix the problem by "reformatting" your harddrive, if necessary, or by using some type of system-restore.

in my case, i used ccleaner to update all of my drivers without experiencing any problems as a result.

 

[Bastet]

I use Macrium Reflect to image my PC daily so any problems after installing drivers I can roll back within 15 minutes.

[F H]

I found the Driver updater to be rather dangerous. Some were updated successfully, but It installed an incorrect video driver which took several hours to repair.

It may not be the fault of CCleaner because it would be impossible for them to know the correct drivers for every machine out there.

[Guest Stephen CCleaner]

Hi everyone! Thank you for the suggestions and feedback so far. Please keep it coming so we can continue to improve our driver updater!

Earlier in this thread I said we were committed to making this the best Driver Updater out there and are working on various improvements. Here is an update on what we've done so far...

We've completed the following items:

• Fixing when scanning gets stuck
• Making it simpler to revert only the drivers that relate to an issue you're having
• Making the button for reverting drivers more obvious
• Improving messaging for certain types of connectivity errors

Reporting problems

• Making it easier to report problems from within Driver Updater

We've done some work here to collect more detailed information when a driver is reverted. This helps us to improve driver matching and also focus in on the drivers with the highest reversion rate.

Automatic scans

In the next version (v5.86) the DU will scan automatically once per week. This functionality is available for users of CCleaner Free and CCleaner Professional.

Driver version confusion

A lot of confusion was caused because different driver providers use different versioning schemes. We tend to get the latest available driver from trusted providers (could be the hardware device manufacturer, the motherboard manufacturer, the laptop vendor, Microsoft, etc.). Therefore we now show the date the driver version was published instead of the driver version ID. The driver version ID is still shown in the Driver Details view.

Driver mismatches

• We have a separate team who are focused on continuous improvement and expansion of driver update definitions
• Recently they have focused on improving which drivers are provided to desktop/laptop/netbook/tablet devices
• They also look at the driver with the highest volume-to-failure rate ratio and iteratively work through these from top to bottom (as you can imagine, this is a huge list so there needs to be a sensible method of prioritisation to make improvements that impact the greatest number of users)

 

What we're focusing on next:

1. Reducing the likelihood of failed/incomplete driver updates, and the need to attempt updates multiple times
2. Gathering more useful device/driver information when problems occur to facilitate speedy statistical analysis and help us to make driver definition improvements much more rapidly
3. Changing the visual state of the Driver Updater icon to tell you when there are driver updates available
4. Letting you ignore driver updates for selected devices, and reviewing items that have been 'skipped' (latest version only) or 'ignored' (all versions)

[DarekWa]

I cannot skip the oldest driver

versions as the list is longer than screen and there is no right side bar to move window down

Edited October 4, 2021 by DarekWa

[Guest johnccleaner]

Try using WIndows Key + the Up Arrow (hold the Windows key on the keyboard, tap Up Arrow while holding it, let both keys go) to maximize the windows; counterintuitively, on smaller displays, lower resolutions, or high scaling factors, this can cause the window to more properly fill up the screen without components like this being cut off.

(You might also try either increasing the display resolution or reducing the scale by right-clicking on the desktop > Display Settings in recent versions of Windows.)

[DarekWa]

3 minutes ago, johnccleaner said:

Try using WIndows Key + the Up Arrow (hold the Windows key on the keyboard, tap Up Arrow while holding it, let both keys go) to maximize the windows; counterintuitively, on smaller displays, lower resolutions, or high scaling factors, this can cause the window to more properly fill up the screen without components like this being cut off.

(You might also try either increasing the display resolution or reducing the scale by right-clicking on the desktop > Display Settings in recent versions of Windows.)

I got maximum window size and maximum resolution of display. Just only fix from your side will resolve it.

[Guest MeganCCleaner]

Hi @DarekWa Thanks for verifying that. I've informed our development team of this issue as it seems as though it could be easily resolved via a Y-Axis scrollbar.

If you happen to notice any other issues, or if you need assistance with something, please don't hesitate to notify us; we'll be more than happy to help!

[Guest MeganCCleaner]

Hi @DarekWa I wanted to follow-up with you on this as I am delighted to say that we'll be implementing a Y-Axis Scrollbar in that area of Driver Updater in order to correct this problem, and it will be available in the coming months, via one of the next updates we release for CCleaner.

[DarekWa]

thank you!

[Tommy7s]

On 29/06/2021 at 11:22, Lighty said:

I have been a long time fan of paid version of CCleaner since it started.  This new addition is a mess, I personally will not try it again!

This addition can only be a disaster and you are approaching this in the wrong way.  The "installation dates" is the date that I updated the driver using the CC program correct?  I just updated six drivers and there is no listing of this date in the installation column for any of the drivers on the "up-to-date drivers" list.  No matter what I filter on in the "Show Drivers Installed" by filter, I see the same 40 files,  YOU CANNOT expect the user to choose which files should be reverted.  I don't remember which 6 files they are.  My desktop crashes crashes...that could be caused by any driver and since I can't find which ones I installed today...I have no way of knowing.  You must advise people to create a restore point prior to any driver updates.  Here's what you must do....Users should be able to sort all updated drivers by the date that they were installed using your software.  This is truly terrible and I won't use that feature again!

[hazelnut]

Have you had a read here? It may help.

https://support.piriform.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402564268429-I-m-having-a-problem-with-Driver-Updater-What-are-my-options-#1-revert-drivers-from-ccleaner-using-driver-updater-0-4

If not, contact support

support@ccleaner.com

[Guest Stephen CCleaner]

Hi again, all!

Latest improvements for Driver Updater:

• The DU icon now has a counter which tells you how many driver updates are available (CCleaner Professional only)
• We've reduced the likelihood of failed/incomplete driver updates, and the need to attempt updates multiple times
• We've fixed visual bugs that occur on high DPI screens or high zoom settings
• Long driver names now display correctly in the app

Next up, we're working on:

• Improvements to the driver update definitions engine
• Scrollbar for the Driver Details view when there are more than 14 past updates present on the device
• 'Ignore' setting - while active, don't suggest driver updates for selected devices

Got a suggestion?

Let us know here! :)

[WalterSwan]

So I already own CCleaner Pro, but when I try to use the new Driver Updater it asks me to buy CCleaner again???

edit - Oh, apparently my license has expired. I didn't know I bought a product that had an expiry date!

Edited November 25, 2021 by WalterSwan

[Dave CCleaner]

1 hour ago, WalterSwan said:

Oh, apparently my license has expired. I didn't know I bought a product that had an expiry date!

@WalterSwanIf you bought in 2017 then your product doesn't expire, but the services did back in 2018 (customer support; new features such as Health Check, Driver Updater, etc).  

[Midnightw]

I just purchased the full CCleaner program today after seeing the Driver Update option.  The minute I purchased the full program and initiated the driver update, it bricked my computer.  An absolute waste. This program should not even be available to the public with how astronomically disastrous the consequences are.  I'm sitting here, hours in, attempting to save my PC.  I have never been more disappointed in a program.

[lievenme]

can you be more specific about the problems?

thanks

[spcesq]

Can I suggest a second progress bar that shows the % complete for each driver when update all is selected?

 

Thanks for consideration

Kind Regards

Steve

[Guest MeganCCleaner]

Hi @spcesq Thanks for the suggestion as I can definitely understand the value in having a progress bar for the driver update operation and I'll send this directly over to our product team for further review and consideration.

If you ever have any other suggestions, please let us know; we greatly appreciate all feedback as this is one of the best ways for us to improve our products and services.