By Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker – April 29, 2010 at 05:00PM
Windows: When Windows’ Device Manager just can’t seem to give you information about a piece of hardware, free, open-source utility UnknownDevices will point you in the right direction, allowing you to find the necessary drivers to get it up and running.
Screenshot from AddictiveTips.
Generally, when you install a new device, you know what it is and where to find drivers, but if you’ve just done a clean install of Windows, for example, it can be difficult or time-consuming to determine what your many “unknown” devices in Device Manager actually are. Luckily, UnknownDevices is a portable app that can quickly give you more information about the manufacturer and model of those unknown devices to help you on your hunt for the necessary drivers.
Unfortunately, all my devices are communicating just fine with my computer (even the weird ones I dug out of the closet)—so I couldn’t test this one out myself. Software blog AddictiveTips says it worked great for them, though, so if you try it out, let us know how it worked for you in the comments!
UnknownDevices is a free download, Windows only.