Although I have a few more recent computers, I still plunk away on what I call my "Clunker", a vintage nearly 10-year-old desktop with Windows XP and a scant 512 MB RAM. I expect it to die any day and I refuse to spend a lot of money to prolong its life. A lot of things on Clunker or attached to Clunker no longer work, or work poorly. Maybe your computer performs better - or perhaps you can relate to my problems, and this report might help your old dinosaur (and newer computers as well) perform a bit better.

If you haven't checked your system lately to determine whether you have the latest drivers, you may just be in for a big surprise. Even on newer computers, drivers rapidly become outdated. I'm sure the more computer-savvy readers will understand what I mean about "drivers", but for the rest of us, let's take a quick summary.

A driver is a bit of software that "talks to" or interacts with a hardware device within one's computer system. In short, it "commands" the equipment to do its thing. The equipment can be a printer, video adapter, network card, sound card, modems, storage devices (such as hard disk, CD-ROM, floppy disk, etc.), scanners, digital cameras, Web cams, and so on.) If your system is average, you probably have about 100 drivers installed when the computer is fresh out of the box, and more will be added as you add more stuff. With a current driver, all is well, but when that driver is missing, corrupt, or outdated, all you-know-what breaks loose. You may get that dreaded blue screen of death (BSOD), nonsensical error messages, no sound, no video, improper images displayed, peripherals (e.g., keyboard, mouse, joystick, speakers, printers, Web cam, etc.) misbehaving or not performing as they should...and so on, you get the idea.

I've found that even installing a new printer from the hardware installation disc is often problematic because the merchandise has sat on the dealer's shelf for months and, meanwhile, new drivers are created. This typically requires a visit to the manufacturer's Web site to download what is hoped will be a fix to the problem; but, some manufacturers just aren't sympathetic with our after-the-sale plight, and chasing down the correct driver becomes a nightmare.

Microsoft suggests that you should check Windows Update for updated drivers. That means sifting through a ton of stuff. Their not-so-easy-to-follow instructions for Vista owners, for example, is at http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows-Vista/Update-a-driver-for-hardware-that-isnt-working-properly and of course you will find a plethora of "helpful" hints all over the Web if you Google for them. Egads, it's a jungle out there.

I'm basically a lazy guy. I don't paint my house. I don't do plumbing. I don't repair my vehicle. I pay someone else to do these things for me if I know they have a lot more expertise in their profession. I have no objection toward paying a modest sum to an expert to keep my computer up-to-date as well, if I don't have to read volumes and spend hours in accomplishing this. Call it laziness if you will, but I've "hired" DriverFinder to watch over my drivers.

DriverFinder works with Windows XP, 2000, 2003, Vista, or Windows 7 and is perfectly at home with either 32-bit or 64-bit versions. It took less than two minutes to install DriverFinder and even less than that for it to do a complete scan of my hard drive for old, corrupt, and missing drivers. As I expected, my old Clunker had its share of bad drivers and installing the right ones was a breeze.

DriverFinder's database supports more than 100,000 unique hardware devices. It is updated daily to include the latest drivers, using automated crawlers and electronic driver file analyzers. These are manually checked by computer professionals before they are added to the database. Installation is completed in a few short clicks. This is an important feature, since manufacturers can, shall we say, be very "creative" with how they package their drivers. Some driver files are click-and-go, some are zipped , some files are compressed , others are in who-knows-what formats. DriverFinder makes it a no-brainer and takes the guesswork out of the process. I took a great deal of comfort in knowing that I was getting the correct driver and it was being installed in my system correctly as well.

You can try DriverFinder free at http://driverfinderpro.com/home/ . It will scan your computer and quickly tell you if you're needing to update your drivers, but in order to download and install drivers, you'll need to register the software. Take comfort, though, in knowing that DriverFinder offers a 60-day money back guarantee if it doesn't do everything it promises. Along with that, you get first-class support if you hit a snag, with responses within 48 hours.

DriverFinder's regular one-year license for three computers is a regular $34.95 and that same license for three years is regularly $44.90. But, in typical fashion, I've arranged with the good folks at DriverFinder to give the Neat Net Tricks family a special deal, $10 off either package. But to get that price, you'll have to place your order at http://driverfinderpro.com/registration/ and enter NETTRICKS as the coupon code on checkout.

But wait, I'm not finished with the deal. I want you to have this nifty software, so I'm enticing you with a free year's subscription (24 issues) to Neat Net Tricks Premium. That's either a renewal of your current subscription, a new subscription, or a gift subscription to someone else, as you wish. Just forward the proof of purchase ( the License ID you receive by email from DriverFinder) to jteems@neatnettricks.com . You can delete the license information when forwarding it to me if you wish, but be sure you include the email address and name under which you wish to subscribe or renew your subscription to NNT Premium.

Then, for a super opportunity, you can keep your computer humming while you're in the driver's seat!