Welcome to DriverGuide Toolkit. This utility identifies and lists device drivers installed on your computer, whether local or network based, and, when connected to the Internet, allows you to search for driver updates and manufacturer information. In addition, DriverGuide Toolkit allows you to backup the currently installed device drivers to a secure location. In the event you ever need to restore a backed up device driver DriverGuide Toolkit will facilitate the driver restoration from the previously saved driver backup set.
DriverGuide Toolkit supports Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and higher operating systems.
LICENSE AGREEMENT
CThis license applies to the registered version of DriverGuide Toolkit.
You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using this software. Unless you have a different license agreement signed by iCentric Corp. your use of this software indicates your acceptance of this license agreement and warranty.
Registered Version - Single License
One registered copy of DriverGuide Toolkit may be used by either a single person who uses the software personally on up to two computers that are directly under said user's control and whom no other user can access DriverGuide Toolkit, OR installed onto a single computer, and, using the built in network functionality, connect to one other computer, but not both.
Registered Version - Network License
You may access the registered version of DriverGuide Toolkit through a network, provided that you have obtained individual licenses for the software covering all workstations that will access the software through the network. For instance, if 5 different workstations will access DriverGuide Toolkit on the network, each workstation must have its own DriverGuide Toolkit license, regardless of whether they use DriverGuide Toolkit at different times or concurrently. Further, you may, using DriverGuide Toolkit's built in network functionality, connect to other computers on your network, provided you have purchased a license for each computer you will be connecting to. For instance, if you will be connecting to 5 computers on your network, you will need to purchase 5 licenses for each of the 5 computers DriverGuide Toolkit will be connecting to, regardless of whether the connections occur at different times or concurrently.
Governing Law
This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the United States.
Disclaimer of Warranty
THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OR MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. Because of the various hardware and software environments into which DriverGuide Toolkit may be put, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.
Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program. IN NO EVENT WILL ICENTRIC CORP. BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SALES, INJURY TO PERSON OR PROPERTY OR ANY OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE EVEN IF ICENTRIC CORP. OR ITS AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE(S) HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. IN NO EVENT SHALL LICENSOR’S LIABILITY EXCEED AMOUNTS PAID TO LICENSOR BY LICENSEE UNDER THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT.
Termination
This license is effective until terminated. Licensee may terminate it at any time by destroying all copies of the Software covered by this Agreement and all support files generated by the Software. It will also terminate if Licensee fails to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement. Licensee agrees that upon such termination to destroy this Software, including all copies, functionally equivalent derivatives, and all portions and modifications thereof in any form.
Installing this software confirms your understanding of and binds you to this licensing agreement.
Copyright 2003 iCentric Corp.
Privacy Policy
DriverGuide Toolkit is committed to protecting your privacy.
Computer Information
If you activate the "Search for Updates" or "Search for Manufacturers" feature, in order to provide you with the appropriate results, DriverGuide Toolkit must collect a certain amount of configuration information from your computer.
None of this configuration information can be used to identify you. This information is limited to:
Operating-system version number
Computer maker and model
Hardware device ID numbers
Driver info: description, type, version, date, and manufacturer
The configuration information collected is used only to determine the appropriate updates and to generate aggregate statistics. DriverGuide Toolkit does not connect this information with your name, address, e-mail address, or any other form of personally identifiable information.
To provide you with the best possible service, DriverGuide Toolkit also tracks and records how many unique machines visit DriverGuide.com and whether the request of specific updates succeeded or failed. In order to do this, DriverGuide Toolkit generates a non-personally identifiable hashed id, identifying your computer as unique. This ID does not contain any personally identifiable information and cannot be used to identify you.
All information sent to DriverGuide.com is encrypted for transmission and is processed on secure servers.
We may at times produce aggregate (anonymous) information about DriverGuide Toolkit statistics - for example, how many users seek to upgrade a particular modem driver.
Use of Cookies
The DriverGuide.com website uses cookies. Cookies are small data files that your Web browser uses to allow websites to store information. Cookies are perfectly safe and are used to assign a unique identification when you access DriverGuide.com. Access to DriverGuide.com will only work if you accept cookies. All major sites, such as Yahoo and Amazon use cookies.
DriverGuide.com uses cookies to remember the username and password information you supplied during your previous visit, so you don't have to retype it each time. Cookies are also used to enforce access to various parts of the website.
Cookies are harmless. A cookie can't read data off your hard drive or read other cookie files created by other sites.
If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies (see your individual browser instructions), you will receive the warning message with each of our cookies. You can set your browser to refuse cookies but please note, access to DriverGuide.com will ONLY work if you accept cookies.
Email Policy
In order to purchase DriverGuide Toolkit, we require a valid email address. Your email address is needed in order to receive the codes to unlock the software. We may at times need to send out a bulletin to all customers describing significant changes to the software. You will not receive any other email from us. We do not and will never rent, sell, or in any way misuse the information you provide. No unsolicited email will ever be sent to our customers.
Credit Card Privacy
We use a very popular credit card processing service called DigiBuy. Their system is one of the best on the Internet and offers state-of-the-art data protection. This means all of your personal information - including credit card, name, address, and application data - is scrambled so it cannot be read as it travels over the Internet. Our company never sees, and does not have access to your credit card number.
Wizards
DriverGuide Toolkit contains several wizards that describe in detail how to perform the primary functions found within DriverGuide Toolkit.
View Drivers/Devices: Describes how to view and filter drivers and devices. Backup drivers: Describes the process of backing up the device drivers installed on your computer. View driver backup: Walks you through the steps of viewing a previously saved device driver backup set. Search for driver updates: Walks you through the steps of searching for updated or new device drivers . Search for driver support: Walks you through the stops for searching for the manufactuerer and/or searching for driver support with DriverGuide.com or !Google.com. Restore drivers: Walks you through the steps of restoring a device driver from a previously saved backup set. System information: Walks you through the system information collected by the DriverGuide Toolkit about the devices installed on your computer. Program Updates: Walks you through the process of updating DriverGuide Toolkit. Remote Connections: Walks you through how to set up a Remote Connection with DGT as well as backup, restore, search for drivers, search for updates, search for support, and view system information on remote computers.
Select the wizard for the process you need help with and then select the "Run Wizard" button to start the wizard. Once the Run Wizard button has been selected, the desired wizard will load and the proper tab will become selected that corresponds to the functionality you need help with. Moving the cursor over the wizard text that describes a function causes the corresponding function to activate in DriverGuide Toolkit*.
*This functionality is not supported in the ActiveX version of DriverGuide Toolkit.
My Drivers
The My Drivers section will list the device drivers on your computer in the main window and allows you to back them up. In addition, the My Drivers section also allows you to work with your previously saved driver backups.
To restore drivers select the Restore Drivers tab, after selecting a specific driver or all drivers.
The basic steps for backing up device drivers:
Select the My Drivers section
List the device drivers on the system - List the installed drivers by selecting the "Show My Drivers" link. When this link is selected, a drop down menu appears with four choices related to listing the installed drivers. They are:
Select All: When this option is selected, all the drivers will be selected for a group action; whether it is backing up or restoring drivers.
De-select All: When this option is selected, this will de-select all of the drivers.
Hide Microsoft Drivers: This option can toggle between showing and hiding Microsoft Drivers. If "Hide Microsoft Drivers" is selected this option immediately prompts DriverGuide Toolkit to begin listing the device drivers installed upon the system that are non-Microsoft drivers. DriverGuide Toolkit will still respect the "Show connected devices only" setting unless this is not being used. Non-Microsoft drivers are those drivers that have been created by a company other than Microsoft and are not included as part of the Microsoft operating system installation media.
Show connected and non-connected devices: This option can toggle between showing both connected and non-connected devices or only connected devices. When only the "Show connected devices only" option has is selected DriverGuide Toolkit will list those drivers that are currently supporting a device that is attached to the computer and turned on. If the "show connected and non-connected devices" option is selected the DriverGuide Toolkit will list all device drivers installed on the system irregardless of whether or not the device the driver supports is attached to the computer and turned on.
Once the installed drivers have been listed place a checkmark next to the drivers you wish to backup. Once one or more drivers have been selected for backup, the "Backup Driver" button becomes enabled. Note: To quickly select all drivers in the list for backup check the "Select all" option. Conversely, to uncheck one or more options check the "De-select all" option.
By default DriverGuide Toolkit saves the device driver backup set to the path C:\My Drivers. If you wish to change the location where DriverGuide Toolkit will save the backup set select the "Change Driver Backup Folder" link. From the resulting browse dialog, select a new location for the driver backup set to be saved to. Note: When changing the default driver backup folder keep in mind that DriverGuide Toolkit does not support writing directly to a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM. Consequently, DriverGuide Toolkit will not allow you to select this type of driver backup location. If you wish to burn, the driver backup set to a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM you can do so after first saving the driver backup set to a location on your hard drive and then using your ROM burning software to burn the driver backup set to CD-ROM/DVD-ROM.
When the drivers have been selected for backup select the "Backup Driver" button. The selected drivers will immediately begin backing up to the folder selected for driver backup; by default this is C:\My Drivers. When the backup is complete, the selected drivers will no longer be selected.
See Additional options
Finding Updates
The Find Updates tab allows you to search for updated device drivers for those drivers that are selected and currently installed on the computer as well as having been previously backed up. In addition, you can find updates by visiting the manufacturers page, which you can access by selecting a driver and clicking the "Search Manufacturer" tab, or by the "Search Google web site" for either a driver or manufacturer.
It is recommended that you visit WindowsUpdate - Microsoft's official site for device driver distribution. Many device driver manufacturers submit their drivers to Microsoft for distribution. Microsoft tests these drivers to make certain they do not cause problems in Windows. Windows Update should be the first place you check for driver updates.
The basic steps for driver update searches:
List the device drivers on the system - List the installed drivers by selecting the "Show My Drivers" link. When this link is selected, a drop down menu appears with four choices related to listing the installed drivers. They are:
Select All: When this option is selected, all the drivers will be selected for a group action; whether it is backing up or restoring drivers.
De-select All: When this option is selected, this will de-select all of the drivers.
Hide Microsoft Drivers: This option can toggle between showing and hiding Microsoft Drivers. If "Hide Microsoft Drivers" is selected this option immediately prompts DriverGuide Toolkit to begin listing the device drivers installed upon the system that are non-Microsoft drivers. DriverGuide Toolkit will still respect the "Show connected devices only" setting unless this is not being used. Non-Microsoft drivers are those drivers that have been created by a company other than Microsoft and are not included as part of the Microsoft operating system installation media.
Show connected and non-connected devices: This option can toggle between showing both connected and non-connected devices or only connected devices. When only the "Show connected devices only" option has is selected DriverGuide Toolkit will list those drivers that are currently supporting a device that is attached to the computer and turned on. If the "show connected and non-connected devices" option is selected the DriverGuide Toolkit will list all device drivers installed on the system irregardless of whether or not the device the driver supports is attached to the computer and turned on.
Select a driver. Presently, DGT can only search for one specific driver's updates at a time. Once a driver is selected, the "Find Update", "Search Manufacturer Website", and "Search Google Website" buttons will become enabled.
Selecting "Find Update" searches the DriverGuide.com's database of over 400,000 drivers uploaded by members of DriverGuide.com. The DriverGuide Toolkit uses sophisticated algorithms to find the best driver fit for you. Once a match is found, you can download the driver directly from the DriverGuide.com search results page.
Selecting the "Search Manufacturer Web Site" searches the DriverGuide.com's database of over 3,000 manufacturers. This provides you with more information about the device as well as the driver in addition to enabling you to find more update options. It is always a good idea to check the manufacturer's website for the latest device driver updates and support. When this option is selected DriverGuide Toolkit searches the companion website DriverGuide.com for manufacturer links and information related to the selected drivers.The relevant links for support, general information and more are shown on the results page.
"Search Google Web Site" searches Google activating the web's largest search engine to search for device drivers or manufacturer websites related to the selected driver(s). This is a useful resource for finding drivers or manufacturer information, if you cannot find any the information you need with the DriverGuide.com results or WindowsUpdate. When DriverGuide Toolkit searches Google.com it does so using detailed driver information, such as hardware ID and compatible IDs. This helps to insure an accurate search and match.
An additional search options exist when all other search methods do not find matches - "General Driver Search". In this case, a compatible driver can be found even though the driver update search was unsuccessful. The General Driver Search option also provides you with a method of searching for a device driver that may be on another computer or that you may know little about. Selecting the General Driver Search button prompts you to enter keywords about the driver in question separated by spaces. Keywords could be a partial driver name, device model number --even a hardware ID if known. The search will be executed against the DriverGuide.com device driver database. {I've been unable to get a real result here. I've searched a few different times with a few different keywords and devices... it errors EVERY TIME! so.... don't know what else to put}
Restore Drivers
The Restore Drivers button allows you to restore drivers from a previously saved driver backup set. The backup set must be from the same computer running the same operating system that created the backup set.
The driver restore feature only works with those drivers which were saved by DriverGuide Toolkit.
The basic steps for restoring one or more drivers:
Select either the specific driver(s) or all the drivers to restore. This will enable the "Restore Drivers" button.
Press the "Restore Drivers" button. A prompt box may pop up. Make sure that the location you backup your drivers to is in the address bar. For example, c:\my drivers\computername\filename.sys. Press OK
When the driver restoration is complete you may be prompted to reboot the computer.
See also: Additional options
Driver restoration considerations
When reinstalling the operating system Windows will often prompt you for the location of a driver before you have had a chance to install DriverGuide Toolkit. In this case you can still use the driver backup set that you saved using DriverGuide Toolkit. If this scenario occurs point the Windows' driver installation wizard's browse dialog to the location where you have the device driver backup set stored. Because DriverGuide Toolkit saves each driver in its own folder with a descriptive name, you can easily identify the proper location of the driver in question when browsing to it with the Windows driver installation wizard.
Sometimes Windows balks at installing unsigned drivers (drivers that have not been reviewed by Microsoft). It is always better to use signed drivers (drivers that have been tested by Microsoft) but usually installing unsigned drivers works fine for most people.
Preferences
The Preferences option in the File menu allows you to adjust some of the visual aspects of the DriverGuide Toolkit as well as some default functions. {I don't understand all the information in the visual styles part.}
In the "Visual Styles" section, you can adjust the look of the DriverGuide Toolkit to different "Paint Themes" as well as different "Splitter Style(s)". This is also where you can adjust the Margins, "Report Contol", and "Task Panel style".
With the "Driver Search" section, you select whether the DriverGuide Toolkit has permission to send your driver information to DriverGuide.com. This must be selected to enable driver searches through DriverGuide Toolkit. Please read our privacy policy, which explains exactly what information is passed to our server.
You can also select whether the DriverGuide Toolkit will identify drivers when it loads. If selected, the DriverGuide Toolkit starts it will begin to list the drivers installed on the computer as soon as the program loads.
Identifying Unknown Devices
DriverGuide Toolkit displays System Information for your entire computer. If you have an unknown or "problem" device, it will be listed by device type when you have selected the "System Information" Link. In the event DriverGuide Toolkit is not able to identify the problem device it may be useful to perform a Google search based on the data DriverGuide Toolkit was able to discover about the device. To do so, highlight the device by clicking on it. Next, right click the device and then select the Copy to Clipboard... option and then select the Copy All option. Finally, open a web browser window and visit Google.com. Paste the data copied to the clipboard into the Google search field and perform the search.
Additional options
No matter which tab you are working on several methods exist to make it easier to work with your drivers. Many options can be found by right clicking a driver from the list. Doing so presents a context sensitive menu with several often-used functions. These same functions also can be found by selecting the Action button at the top of each tab. Because the Action button and right click menu are context sensitive you must insure that you first select a driver before right clicking upon it or accessing the Action button.
The context sensitive menus contain the following options:
Find Update... Allows you to search for a driver at the DriverGuide.com database. For more information on searching see Search for Drivers.
General Driver Search: Allows you to search for drivers not currently installed on the computer. For more information see Search for Drivers.
Display Driver Properties... Presents a dialog containing the properties of the selected driver as reported by Windows. This dialog contains additional, operating system specific functions. For example, the ability to roll back the driver on Windows XP and higher.
Display Driver Install History... Presents a log file containing a record of each instance where Windows has installed the driver. Multiple instances may occur when Windows installs the driver more than once or when the driver is updated, rolled back, or re-installed. This record can be very helpful when attempting to troubleshoot a failed driver install as the log file will explicitly state the nature of the failure. This option is only available on Windows ME and higher. This option is only available on the My Installed Drivers tabs.
Open INF file... Access and displays the INF file used by Windows to install the driver.
Copy to Clipboard... Allows you to copy driver hardware ID, driver name, driver manufacturer, or all three items to the Windows clipboard. Combined with the General Driver Search function this feature can be very helpful when performing searches.
Note: One or more options described here may or may not appear on the context sensitive menus. The presence of an option is dependent upon several factors. If you fail to see an option described the option is not currently supported under the condition in which the menu was generated.
Remote Connections
The remote connections dialog provides a way to connect and disconnect from remote computers. To connect to a computer, first select the "Remote Connections" section. Select the "Make Remote Connection" link. A "Connect Network Registry" prompt box will show up where you can enter the name or browse for the computer to connect to and then select OK. DriverGuide Toolkit (DGT) will connect with the remote computer. Once connected to one or more computers you can switch between them by again right clicking within the remote connection status area and selecting Switch to....
To disconnect from a computer right click on the remote connection status area and then select Disconnect computer to disconnect one, more or all computers that are currently connected. {Don't know how correct this is as I don't have an additional computer to connect remotely too.}
See also: Preparing to make remote connections, Saving a remote computer's drivers
From here on, I have no idea if this information is correct as I have no computer to connect remotely with. Please advise.
Preparing to make remote connections
The operating systems Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 and higher inherently have the support needed for DriverGuide Toolkit (DGT) to connect to remote computers. No services need be installed to support remote connections on these operating systems. Windows 9x and Windows Millennium computers must have the Remote Registry Service installed before making a remote connection. Windows XP Home Edition does not fully support remote connections. For this reason, DGT, as well, cannot fully support remote connections under Windows XP Home Edition.
Remote Registry Service
Do I need to install Remote Registry Service?
Remote Registry Service is required for remote connections if either of the following is true:
DGT is installed onto a Windows 9x computer that will be connecting to another Windows computer.
DGT is installed onto a Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 or higher computer that will be connecting to a Windows 9x or Windows Millennium computer.
See "Installing the Remote Registry Service" if you answered yes to either condition.
Before connecting to any computers on your network make certain that you have the proper privileges to make the connection. In short, you should have administrator rights on any client computers you are connecting to.
Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional each have special considerations when making remote connections using DGT. Please see the special topic for these operating systems here: Special considerations with Windows XP
Installing the Remote Registry Service
To determine whether the Remote Registry Service should be installed see "Preparing to make remote connections".
The installation files for the Remote Registry Service can be found in the following locations:
Windows 95 CD: \\NetTools\Remotreg
Windows 98 CD: \\reskit\netadmin\remotreg
Windows Me CD:
To install the Remote Registry Service open the 'Network' applet from within Control Panel. On the 'Configuration' tab select the Add button. From the resulting window select 'Service' from the list of components to install. Next, select Add. From the resulting window select 'Have Disk'. Browse to the proper folder (outlined above) on your Windows CD. Select OK when the regsrv.inf file is selected. Follow any on-screen instructions. At the completion of installation you will be prompted to reboot the system, do so.
For Remote Registry Service to work properly each computer within the network or home based LAN should be running the same level of security; either share-level or user-level security. There can not be a mix of each. We strongly recommend user-level security be used.
WARNING: If your computer is configured to use share-level security and the Remote Administration service is installed, a user is required to know only a password to remotely administer your computer. To help prevent unauthorized users from remotely administering computers, consider using user-level security, which allows access to only specified users.
NOTE: In order to use user-level security, there must be a Microsoft Windows NT-based computer or Novell NetWare server on the network to act as a security provider. If you are using a Windows NT-based computer as your security provider, you must enable File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks. If you are using a Novell NetWare server as your security provider, you must enable File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks.
To enable user-level security follow these steps: Open the 'Network' applet within Control Panel. Select the 'Access Control' tab. Select the option entitled, "User-level access control". Next, enter the name of the server from which Windows will obtain its user list. When complete select OK. You will be prompted to reboot the system.
Note: Any shares that were enabled will be disabled. Once rebooted you should set the volume Windows is installed onto as a share.
After rebooting, open the 'Passwords' applet from within Control Panel and select the 'Remote Administration' tab. Check the option entitled, "Enable remote administration of this server". Next, add any users you wish to give access to the system remotely. When done close the dialog.
Remote Connection Status
The Remote Connections field, located just above the clock within DriverGuide Toolkit (DGT), indicates which computer DGT is currently viewing as well as how many remote computers DGT is currently connected with.
The Viewing: label indicates the computer whose drivers DGT is currently working with.
The Remote Connections: label indicates how many computers DGT is currently connected to.
To connect to a remote computer or to change the computer that DGT is currently working with, right click on the remote connection status area.
See also: Preparing to make remote connections
Saving a remote computer's drivers
Once a connection has been made to a remote computer, in order to save the remote computer's drivers, you must set DriverGuide Tookit's (DGT) view to the remotely connected system. To do so, right click on the remote connection status area to disclose a context sensitive menu. From the context sensitive menu select Switch to.... A pop out menu will appear that lists each computer that DGT is currently connected. Select the computer from the list that you wish to work with.
You can now view and save the drivers of the remote computer exactly as if you were making the changes to the local computer.
While you can connect to multiple remote computers at once you can only save the driver's of one computer at a time. Only the currently viewed computer will have its drivers interrogated or saved. To work with a different computer you must first change to it's view.
For more information on making remote connections and viewing/changing remote settings see:
Remote Connections
Remote connection status
Special considerations with windows XP
To make a remote connection from a Windows XP Home Edition computer the following considerations should be noted:
Windows XP Home Edition does not support remote registry connections by default. To work around this issue you must first manually log into a resource on the remote computer. If no resource is currently shared by the remote computer you wish to connect to one must be created. We recommend setting up a password protected share for the Windows volume on the remote computer. Once a share has been established, make a connection to it using Windows Explorer. Doing so initiates a logon dialog box that creates the needed connection, that, in turn, facilitates DriverGuide Toolkit's (DGT) ability to make a remote registry connection to this remote computer. This process can be automated by simply mapping a drive to the computer's remote share with the same password credentials as used to log into the Windows XP Home Edition computer. If a password is not required to log into your Windows XP Home Edition computer you can set one up by changing the way users log on to the computer via Control Panel's User Manager.
To make a connection to a Windows XP Professional or higher computer the following considerations should be made:
Windows XP Professional computers do not support remote registry connections by default. To setup a Windows XP Professional computer to allow remote registry connections via DGT perform the following steps:
Disable the Welcome screen. To do so navigate to Control Panel | User Accounts. De-select the option labeled, Use the Welcome screen. This forces Windows XP to logon in the Windows NT and Windows 2000 style.
Insure you have administrator rights on the remote computer. The easiest way to accomplish this is to setup an administrator account on the remote computer that matches the administrator account you use on the computer from which you are making the remote connection.
When making a remote connection from a Windows XP Professional computer no special considerations need to be adhered to outside of insuring you have the proper permissions to do so.
Related topics: Preparing to make remote connections
Driver Chat
