How do I "safely" keep my NVidia card up to date?

Years and years ago, Nvidia made you figure out what driver you needed by hand. Later, they created a Java applet(?) that would figure it out for you. a few years ago, they created the geForce Experience. Which was a desktop app that kept it up to date for you, as well as had optimization settings for various games.

Recently, I updated GeForce experience, and now it requires I log in to get the latest driver. I don't want to have this much information tied to my graphics card, and I can't figure out how to get past requiring to log in.

I went back to the NVidia site, and there is a java applet available, but I now don't trust java being installed in my browser, so I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do to automatically update my drivers.

I'm going to do the NVidia lookup manual, but it feels like I'm living in the past and that there's got to be a better way.

Anything?

McKay

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 421

My windows 10 downloads and installs it automatically via windows update. I do have geforce experience installed, so maybe it only does so because of this – Blaine – 2017-02-26T03:52:45.683

This is a brilliant question. Has NVidia really sunk that far that they require Java for a driver update? What a shame... – zx485 – 2017-02-26T03:53:46.193

9@zx485 no, the require lazy users to use java or their app... which seems a fair trade off for not bothering to check a web page yourself. – djsmiley2k TMW – 2017-02-26T04:07:25.727

I disagree @zx485 - security vs ease of use is a well known problem. You can't be secure, easy to use, and fast. – djsmiley2k TMW – 2017-02-26T04:12:46.993

1The java is a fall back for not providing your email address and still wanting 'automatic' detection, which, you stated is also provided by windows update. – djsmiley2k TMW – 2017-02-26T04:17:24.893

2Java's needed cause your web browser dosen't need that sort of deep access to your system all the time. Beats activeX. Just a little. – Journeyman Geek – 2017-02-26T06:34:48.693

@djsmiley2k: You have that backwards, the rule is that if the update process isn't fast and easy, you have no security, because users just won't do it. – Ben Voigt – 2017-02-26T06:34:53.573

3@JourneymanGeek: Sure, but the support software can easily pass the card information (Vendor and Product ID basically) as query parameters in a URL, passed to the default browser. There's no need for either the web browser to do it or the support software to ask for an e-mail. – Ben Voigt – 2017-02-26T06:36:53.297

1The auto detection / desktop app are the easier ways, but you don't want them. And is it really that hard to remember you have an nvidia 9xx card and pick your OS? – Andy – 2017-02-26T23:07:29.383

@Andy No it's not that hard, but it is harder than it was before. – McKay – 2017-02-27T20:04:24.527

@JourneymanGeek Not taking into account even that "ActiveX is not dependent on Microsoft Windows operating systems, but in practice most ActiveX controls only run on Windows. " and java is "write once, run anywhere" (WORA)... ;-) – Hastur – 2017-02-28T10:01:21.567

Answers

Log in to GeForce experience using your favourite spam email address, with info as true / alternative to true as you feel comfortable with. Now you can get driver updates, and need not be worried about what NVIDIA knows about you. You could tell them as much as you tell Superuser, and it will work fine.

Sir Adelaide

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 4 758

27But be aware that special email addresses for this purpose are usually taken like nvidiasucks@ and nvidialeavemealone@ are unlikely to bo available :) – Džuris – 2017-02-26T08:37:30.583

2@Džuris Would be nice if there were a throw-away email service, @StopItNvidia.org. – Nat – 2017-02-26T11:16:20.397

@Nat https://www.google.com/search?q=throw+away+email

– Amziraro – 2017-02-26T12:06:10.657

There is a throwaway email service: https://www.guerrillamail.com/ Works from Tor too, though it does include the source IP address as part of the email to prevent abuse.

– YetAnotherRandomUser – 2017-02-26T18:26:43.507

3http://bugmenot.com/view/nvidia.com – user541686 – 2017-02-27T04:46:06.880

110minutemail.com, harakirimail.com, no need to provide your actual e-mail. – None – 2017-02-27T16:05:17.487

He can also look for mailinator or a similar service. No need to open a new account ever again (mailinator is usually blocked by many sites, but not all the similar systems) – Nahuel Ianni – 2017-02-27T16:29:09.207

yopmail.com is a nice one too – Zimano – 2017-02-28T09:14:48.000

I'm pretty sure you can use Steam itself to update your Video drivers. I don't know if it'll work with NVIDIA but I guess it's worth a try.

Note here I'm using Linux and this option is not functional in my case (Although I don't really need it as my OS have a repo with nvidia drivers and so I can update everything in my linux at once via a single command).

WindowsXpUser

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 119

2On Windows systems this just links straight to the NVIDIA download page. – nshct – 2017-02-27T13:55:06.400

To automatically update? You're going to have to follow their restrictions however you can easily check the site yourself and download the newest driver.

How often do you expect them to update the driver? After all I'd only expect an update for an existing product if it's broken in some way.

Link for Nvidia download page is the link if you just want to manually specify the driver.

You could always script something together to load up the correct page and check the version of the driver they are offering, if you really wanted to put that much work in?

djsmiley2k TMW

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 5 937

5"After all I'd only expect an update for an existing product if it's broken in some way." - NVidia tend to update their graphics drivers for every new game that is released, even if the "update" is only a new set of configuration settings for that specific game. Whether a particular user actually needs that level of updating is a different matter, of course. If you just want to keep more-or-less up to date, Windows Update will get you there eventually without going to the NVidia website directly. – alephzero – 2017-02-26T07:05:58.637

2@alephzero Exaclty that. I only update (manually as I don't want that Geforce Experience bloatware/malvertizing thingy) when I install a new game or when I need to troubleshoot an issue with one of my existing games. That happens maybe 3 times a year. Occasionally WindowsUpdate pushes a new driver too. In my experience with the Geforce Experience installed the driver-update via WindowsUpdate may actually fail to install properly. (Or the other way around: Geforce Experience messes up an update if the current driver came from WindowsUpdate.) So I find I;m better of without Geforce Experience. – Tonny – 2017-02-26T13:53:27.307

@alephzero In the case of Nvidia, the updated drivers, even if it's only for one game, can make a huge amount of difference. There was an interview with a developer where he said that on their own, they were only able to get around 45FPS at 1080p, but the work Nvidia did to their driver allowed them to get to 1080p/60FPS consistent on driver optimizations alone. – SGR – 2017-02-27T13:01:03.817

1This. "Geforce experience" is not a required part of the update, and if one takes the time to hit the "custom" install button, one can uncheck this option. Regarding "optimizations," they typically auto-detect the executable and disable features or even downgrade quality. For workarounds, this is useful, but both AMD and nVidia have been caught gaming benchmark applications etc. in the past. Driver versions can also break games and if it was an auto-update, the person may be left wondering why. – Yorik – 2017-02-28T21:20:57.623

If you can find an older version of the GeForce Experience installer then that can work. You need to set it up to not check for program updates, and if it ever requests to run a setup file then deny it and rename/remove the setup file. In my case, that setup file is located in this directory:

C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation\GeForce Experience\Update

It's a bit of a hassle initially, but I'm willing to put up with it over making fake info. The version I have right now is 2.11.4.0, and I've saved the installer just in case I need to reinstall. I've only ever had to rename the setup file twice, and I've been running it like this ever since the new GeForce Experience update went live.

Edit: I've found a link from Nvidia's site for the older version: http://us.download.nvidia.com/GFE/GFEClient/2.11.4.0/GeForce_Experience_v2.11.4.0.exe

ozdrgnaDiies

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 121

I'm doing the same thing. Whenever GeForce Experience wants to update, I press cancel and then delete the setup file. Works like a charm. – Tim Pohlmann – 2017-02-27T15:31:21.070

I've lost my older installer. Does NVidia make available older versions of geforce experience? – McKay – 2017-02-27T20:05:49.487

@McKay You'll have to get it from a third party old software site. I can always upload my version, but I don't know if there's a valid hash I can compare against to prove it's not modified. – ozdrgnaDiies – 2017-02-27T23:59:38.093

@McKay I lied, I found a link from the original website. I've updated the answer with it. – ozdrgnaDiies – 2017-02-28T00:03:11.863

I'd advise against automatically updating the graphic card driver. It's not really crucial that you have the latest driver version. On the contrary, quite regularly, a new version does more harm than good.

I'd suggest bookmarking a page like Guru3D downloads and checking it once in a while.

Don't install a version that has been released less than a few days agos, and screen the user comments, if a version is broken you'll see a handful of rants.

Gras Double

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 866

Windows Update is capable of delivering driver updates. They're optional, so I believe you'll have direct it to download and install them, unless you're on Windows 10, in which case you can configure it to install driver updates automatically.

Windows Update only delivers drivers that are WHQL certified, so a driver may not be available when it's first published. However, it appears that almost every single driver presently available on Nvidia's site is WHQL-certified, so evidently, they all eventually passed the program.

However, I suggest that it's a bad idea to update video drivers automatically. Nvidia has something of a history of publishing bad drivers. I suggest double-checking for any reports of terrible things happening before you install a new version.

Examples:

Those last 3 were instances of permanent damage. Of course they're most likely covered by warranty, but with any driver you also risk new crashes and performance problems, so you should be prepared to test your favorite games and roll back the driver if it isn't suitable.

Corrodias

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 399

+1 for not automatically updating. I keep a list of somewhat stable versions for my drivers to revert to in case an update screws things up (and yes, BSODs can be common if the update is screwed enough). – None – 2017-02-27T16:07:53.227

Not completely sure, but aren't Win10 driver updates only for WHQL versions? There's usually a number of "game-ready" releases in between (most of which won't be useful, but some might). – Bob – 2017-02-28T08:32:04.360

@Bob - That is correct. I'll add that. That said, checking Nvidia's download page, it seems that for the past 9 months at least, every release (on the site) has been WHQL certified. I remember that they used to publish more beta versions. I wonder what happened to that. – Corrodias – 2017-02-28T19:36:13.183

Then again... https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4797/~/security-bulletin%3A-nvidia-gpu-display-driver---may-2019

– trognanders – 2019-05-14T06:22:14.400

Note that if you need the OpenCL feature, Microsoft almost always takes it out of the version they offer. It's seldom used in games, though.

One way to get a version with OpenCL is to go to this site:

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Use Option 1 to describe the computer you want it for, as if you were downloading it for later transfer to some other computer. Tell your browser to save the file it downloads; save the name of that file so you can run it when you are ready to install it.

If you want one of the older drivers, go down the page and click on the underlined Beta and Older Drivers instead.

This way you give them just enough information about the computer that will download it that they can send it to you, and just enough information about the computer you want to install it on that they can choose the correct version to send you.

milesrf

Posted 2017-02-26T03:40:04.103

Reputation: 54