Driver download fraud

[tony draper]

Pottering about with a hard disk here and could not lay me hands on the motherboard drivers Disk,all I needed was the driver for the onboard soundchip(realtek ALC883) so does the google thing and dozens of hits where this specific driver can be downloaded from,so tries one,then another then another,none of these sites actually have the driver though it is listed ,one clicks on it and the download window comes up and one clicks on that,but it is all a lie,they do not have the Realtek ALC883 driver what they all have is some piece of !!!!e software called Driver Detective!! which downloads itself,how come they can get away with what amounts to this bloody fraud,aaarrrgggggggg@!!!! bastards!!

[Parapunter]

Realtek Mr. Draper, only Realtek.

[Tarq57]

Try softpedia.
Hitting the download button presents another from a mirror site, which downloads a .zip of just over 33Mb. (Not tested, but these guys usually seem reliable.)
Or you could contact technical support at the realtec site. See if the drivers are still available from them.

[Tarq57]

(Amendment to above)
Actually ended up downloading the zip. It's double zipped, with folders inside for 32 or 64 bit Windows. Extracting one of them and scanning it (Avast, and MBAM) all is clean. The files within look like the real deal. Give it a whirl.

[green granite]

how come they can get away with what amounts to this bloody fraud,aaarrrgggggggg@!!!! bastards!!

Not only that if you run the software it will list loads of drivers that you need, but don't really because they are already installed, and then insist you need to subscribe to their site using plastic to download them.

[Jofm5]

Tony,

Your best bet is to find the model number of your motherboard and go to the manufacturers website. All decent vendors will have the ability to download existing and updated drivers for all the components on their motherboards.

It can be quite important to use your motherboard vendors drivers rather than generic drivers as the implementation on the board can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

I would provide a link however you have not provided your motherboard details.

Cheers

Jof

[tony draper]

Thanks chaps, and thanks Mr T,downloaded that and yer one figured out the 32/64 bit thingy.

[Parapunter]

Drivers policy thus: Always use the manufacturers site and the latest driver. Nearly every bsod error I've ever had with pc's was a duff driver.

[Loose rivets]

Too true Mr D.


One also let out a scream of protest a while back. It was the mulit-stage filling in of things following the pressing of a CLEARLY STATED 'FREE' BUTTON, before being asked for my Visa number etc.. Last page of goodness knows how many...Oh, by the way, we were lying, give us some money.

"FREE". Absolutely a blatant lie. How can anyone deal with a company that does this?

[Atlas Shrugged]

You may wish to consider the comments made here concerning Softpedia:

softpedia.com | Web Safety Ratings from McAfee SiteAdvisor

[tony draper]

Got the sound card problem sorted,nowt wrong with it or the driver I had, something in XP SP2 deletes or disables summat called Microsoft UAA bus driver and the HD sound chip cannot function,found a fix and downloaded and ran it and everything is hunky dory now.