Drivers and Codec Compilations

Question

Do you know any software or compilations that you recommend to handle drivers and codecs for newly formated computer? I am having problem gathering drivers and codecs when I format my computer or other's computer because we frequently misplace it's original drivers. I need an offline solution that doesn't need internet. Same for as the codec, when formating computer we frequently lost our codecs, are there codec packs you know that you would like to recommend?

P.s. I had tried driver bot but it's only good when your online, I'm looking for a complete package that has all the driver to most common hardware (eg. Monitor, Sound, etc).

Thanks!

Answer 1

Codecs

Use Combined Community Codec Pack, which has everything you will ever need.

You may also want to consider VLC, which uses ffmpeg to play nearly everything under the sun.

Drivers

I'm not aware of a commercial solution which has thousands of drivers aggregated for offline usage, but there are community solutions that pack as many drivers on to a DVD as possible.

Although to be honest, I usually struggle my way through finding the ethernet/wireless driver and copying it via USB/CD/DVD/Floppy onto the PC. From there Windows can get most of the drivers, otherwise download the drivers from the manufacturer.

Answer 2

Codec pack (the one and only): http://cccp-project.net/
(If you only need a player solution, grab mpc-hc. (I'd go for cccp anyway.))
(For a "backup", you can also "install" a VLC+SMplayer+KMPlayer portable. There are damaged videos sometimes and I just tend to use the player which plays it. (well.. usually mpc-hc plays it the best.))

For drivers: There are some utilites for this, but those are for finding drivers online and I wouldn't ever use them. It can never replace a human person who knows what is he doing.

Answer 3

If windows doesn't have the drivers you need already, then head to the manufacturer's website. Most motherboard manufacturers have a section of their website dedicated to the latest drivers. Because of the myrad of hardware out there, other than what Windows already installs I doubt you'll find a compilation of common drivers which can be used offline, and in any case, they won't be up-to-date. If the issue is that windows doesn't have the basic networking drivers you need, download and store those offline on a flash drive, and use an online program after you get networking functioning (I myself use Device Doctor, but that again is an online tool).

If you're just going for video playback, I shoot for VLC - it has codecs for nearly every imaginable format built in for it's own use, so you never have to worry about some other application creating conflicts. However, the codecs it uses aren't installed system-wide, so if you have to use WPM or need to use the video in something like windows movie maker, grab CCCP or the K-lite codec pack.