Software

Come from the vendors so they are not a Microsoft piece of code.

Generally unless you have an existing problem you can get by without the updated drivers although things like Video Cards and the like generally benefit the unit if it isn't used for a business type work or is used in a Graphics intensive position.

Incidental things like this would be better off in the Q & A section that way you'll get auto generated responses whenever anyone answers your questions and are more likely to find someone in your time zone who is able to help you faster than by a general listing in the discussion forum.

Col

I ALWAYS use the component vendor or chip manufactures drivers for nearly every device on my systems.

I can't say that the vendor drivers will make your PC run faster.

"Generally" speaking though, the following are advantages on using the vendors drivers:

More features:
The Microsoft supplied drivers are often just the basic device driver and do not have all the features enabled.

Age:
Microsoft drivers can be as much as 6 months older than the manufactures driver. Even older if the manufacture opts to not pay the tithe and register updated drivers with Microsoft.

Issues:
I have seen Windows Update suggest drivers for devices that do not exist on the target system.
By the same token, I have been aware of updated drivers from the manufacture, and have never seen them show up on Windows Update.
I seldom see Windows Update recommend anything other than the chip-set and video driver.

The primary time to install the manufactures drivers is when you set up a new system.
The default drivers on the Windows CD are out of date within 6 months of the OS release.

Chas

Recently updated the modem driver on the HP laptop I use in the field through windows update. Didn't think anything of it at the time. Went out to a job site a couple of weeks later and noticed that I couldn't hook up at more than 14.4k. This was especially noticeable because this location has a rock solid communication network and I have never hooked up at less than 50+K before. Remembered the updated driver and immediately reloaded the last OEM driver that fortunately was still archived on the hard drive. Instantly back up to over 50K. Now what exactly was the reason for that driver update again???