Blitware

Welcome to the Driver Fetch user guide! We've taken every effort to make Driver Fetch as easy to use as possible, but just in case you run in to a problem using the software, we've put together this handy guide for you.

Downloading Driver Fetch

Downloading the Driver Fetch installation package to your computer is the first step to updating your drivers. Here's the link you need to download Driver Fetch :

Download Driver Fetch

The Driver Fetch installer is around 7MB, and will take 10-20 seconds to download on most broadband connections. When it's done downloading, open it (by double-clicking on it) to begin the installation process.

Installing Driver Fetch

When you double-click on the Driver Fetch installer, you'll be taken to the installer's welcome screen. It should look something like this:

Press "Next" here. The next screen you'll see is the End User License Agreement. This screen gives you the terms and conditions for using our software. Please do read it!

When you're done reading the EULA, and assuming you find it acceptable, please select "I accept the terms and conditions" then click "Next" to move on.

You'll be offered to install the "Ask Toolbar" which you can opt to do or not at your own discretion.

I'm going to turn it off in this case. After this screen Driver Fetch will install itself and then launch

Before the installation is complete Driver Fetch will display this screen which allows you to choose some basic functionality with the program before getting started. Leaving all three of these boxes checked will result in Driver Fetch to set up a weekly scan schedule and launch each time you start windows. Don't worry if you're not sure about this right away as you can always change these options again from the settings screen.

Using Driver Fetch for the first time

Congratulations! Driver Fetch is now installed on your system. You can now use it to update your system's drivers in just a few easy steps, which we've outlined for you below.

Driver Fetch should now be running on your system, waiting for your input. If it's not, you can launch it again from the "Driver Fetch" shortcut on your desktop.

Before heading directly for the Start Scan button why don't we take a look at the Settings tab.

From here you can change quite a few different things including those three options from the install process. You can turn on or off the automatic creation of system restore points (though it's highly recommended you leave this option on) and you can even choose the directory where you'd like the temporary installer files for each driver to be stored. Another handy feature is the ability to use Driver Fetch through a proxy server.

When you're done here go back to the Scan Now tab and press that big "Start Scan" button to get moving. This will launch a 1-minute process that will look for new drivers for your computer. For best results, please don't interrupt the process once you start it.

When Driver Fetch finishes its scan, it will present you with a driver report. The driver report will allow you to inspect the devices that Driver Fetch recommends you update, and deselect any devices for which you don't want new drivers.

If you haven't registered your copy of Driver Fetch, you'll be prompted to do so when you press "Get Drivers", as you can see here:

How to bring up the registration dialog if you ever need it again

If you ever need to bring up this dialog again, just press "About", then "Register". If the button says "Renew" instead of "Register" that means that Driver Fetch is already active and working.

Once you've entered your license key, press "Activate". You will receive notification that the activation was successful, like this:

How to verify your successful activation, and check the status of your license

To verify your activation, and to check to see the status of your license (like how long until it expires), press "About" in Driver Fetch. You'll be taken to the following screen, which clearly shows your license key and how long until it expires. It also lets you renew your license.

Using Driver Fetch to install new drivers

Once your copy of Driver Fetch is registered and activated you'll have full access to the download manager. From this screen you can start any given driver downloading and see its individual progress.

Installing Drivers

Once a driver you need has finished downloading, you can launch it directly from Driver Fetch by clicking on the "Install" button next to it. When you do this, one of three things will happen:

1. The driver package will launch an installer.

This is the most common case. Just follow the steps in the installer to install your driver. You may be required to reboot, but don't worry - the rest of your downloads will be preserved. For an example I launched the installer for the driver for my computer's audio device and it looked like this:

2. A folder will open showing the contents of the driver download.

To install the files from a folder the first thing you need to look for is a "Setup.exe" file (it could also be "Install.exe" or something similar). Running this will launch the installation of the driver package at which point you just need to follow along with the remaining install instructions.

If there is no "Setup" file, look for an "Inf" file (ie, Driver.inf) and try right-clicking on it and choosing "Install". This will launch Windows' own driver installation process.

3. The driver package will launch a ZIP or RAR archive file rather than a normal folder.

Sometimes vendors choose to deliver their drivers to us as archived folders, usually using the RAR or ZIP format.

• If you've downloaded a ZIP file, your Windows system should be able to open it natively. It will look like a normal folder.

• If you've downloaded a RAR file, you'll need special software to open it. We recommend you use 7zip (free), which you can download here: Download 7zip.

You can typically launch the installer directly from a ZIP or RAR file but in some cases you may get an error that says the 'path name is too long' (it may mention something about "88 characters" or it may not) all you have to do is extract the contents of the ZIP/RAR file into a temporary directory before running the install program. Certain drivers have a really hard time installing while all of their files are inside of a zip file. To do that, from the archive manager select "extract" and select a directory to temporarily store the files. Browse to that folder, and try the installer again.