The Importance of Updating Your PC Device Drivers

A PC has different types of hardware components connected to it. To communicate with these hardware components the PC requires a software program, popularly known as a Device Driver. Device drivers are developed both by operating system developers and hardware manufacturers.

Device Drivers integrated into your operating system are installed automatically when the hardware devices that use them are connected to the system. In case your Windows operating system is unable to install the required driver, you can install it from the CD provided by the manufacturer or download it either from the manufacturer’s website or from other sources available on the Internet.

To ensure that the device drivers on your computer stay at their best performance and are free from any bugs, you need to update them on a regular basis. This article will help you to have a look at the steps involved in updating device drivers.

The first step in updating your device driver is to download the latest driver updates either from the manufacturer’s site or from other reliable sources available on the internet. Once you have identified the driver you want to update, download it and save it on your hard disk.

There are some drivers that get automatically updated and installed when you download them. In case the driver does not update on its own, you need to follow the following steps to manually update them.

1. The first step is to locate your hardware component in the Device Manager. To open the Device Manager, right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop, then select Properties. This will open the System Properties dialog box. Here, display the Hardware tab, and then select the Device Manager option.
2. In the Device Manager window you will see a broad list of hardware devices connected to your PC. For example, you will see Display Adaptors, Keyboard, Sound Adaptor, mouse and other such devices listed here. You can navigate through the list of hardware devices by clicking on the (+) icon.
3. Scroll through the list, identify the driver you want to update, right click on it and select the Properties option.
4. In the device properties dialog box, click on the Driver tab and select Update Driver.
5. Upon selecting the update driver option an update driver wizard will open. Select the option “Browse my computer for driver software”. Next, select the option “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer” from the bottom of the open window.
6. Now, browse to the location where you initially saved the downloaded file on your hard disk and then click OK.
7. Select the hardware name in the given text box and click on the Next button. The device driver update will now install on your PC.

After the installation is complete, you might be prompted to restart your computer. Even if you are not prompted to restart your computer, it is always advisable to do so because the driver update process requires some changes to be made in the Windows registry, which are implemented only after your PC restarts.

The process of updating drivers using the Device Manager is manual and more often than not, you may not have time to use it and update your drivers. To help you out are friendly driver scanner tools, such as Driver Finder. These tools automatically search your system for out-of-date drivers and then locate the updates for them online. This software is useful if you don’t want to update your drivers manually.

Keeping Your Device Drivers Up To Date

In matters related to technology, it is often seen that anything that is outdated can be a potential source of problem. It can not only create problems for concerned software or hardware, but also create conflicts with other programs present on the system and hamper overall productivity.

Therefore, whether it is operating system, software applications like anti-virus and device drivers, it is very important for all of them to be up-to-date. Updated versions are more likely to be more stable and less prone to issues. Unfortunately, while many computer users are well informed about the importance of updating Windows and other programs which they use regularly, most of them are ignorant about need for updating drivers. In fact, most of the users have no idea of such a thing as device driver, until they come across them in an error message displayed on their computer screen.

Let us begin by understanding what device drivers are and what tasks they help our system accomplish.

A device driver is a software program that facilitates communication between peripheral hardware devices and the computer. It ensures that a device follows the instructions of a computer correctly. All hardware devices need a driver to perform their functions. Each type of device has a particular type of driver that is driving it. For example, the functions of sound cards are governed by sound drivers or audio drivers.

When you purchase a computer, your operating system comes equipped with most common device drivers. However, since different versions of Windows use different drivers, you may have to upgrade the drivers when you change the operating system. In any case, whenever you are installing a new device, it is always recommended that you use the CD/DVD accompanying it, since it s most likely to have the latest version of device drivers.

Driver manufacturers release regular updates that patch up any vulnerabilities in the existing drivers and incorporate new features. It is essential to install these updates because failure to do so may result in performance and incompatibility issues. The following are two methods that you can use for the same:

1. Device Manager: This is a good utility that comes with your Windows operating system. This utility enables you to troubleshoot problems and issues on your own. To launch Device Manager, right-click My Computer and then select Properties. On the Hardware tab in System Properties dialog box, select Device Manager.Here, you can identify the problem device easily because it will be highlighted by a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark inside it. You right-click on this device, and choose Properties. On the Driver tab of the device properties dialog box that is displayed, click the Update Driver button to start the process of updating the device driver.
2. Third-Party Device Manager: If you find Device manager difficult or confusing, you can opt for any popular third-party device managers such as Driver Finder. These tools can automatically detect driver problems and install updates for you. These programs are quite user-friendly and simplify the whole driver update process.

Computer Drivers: The Basics

All computer systems have various peripheral and hardware devices connected to it such as a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and sound/video adapters. These devices require a special kind of software to communicate with the operating system and other applications installed on it. These software programs are known as Device Drivers.

When you purchase a hardware device, such as a printer or a scanner you get an installation CD/DVD along with it. This CD/DVD contains the driver for this hardware device. Operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and McIntosh have a large range of device drivers embedded into them. These device drivers are developed both by device manufacturers and operating system developers.

You should remember that all drivers are developed in such a way that they are compatible to only one type or version of operating system. For example, the display driver for Windows XP will be different from that of Windows Vista. Similarly, the driver for Windows OS will be different from Linux OS. Therefore, you should be very careful while installing device drivers. Installing an incompatible driver can not only damage your device, but also your computer system.

Device divers like any other software programs need to be updated regularly. Device manufacturers as well as operating system developers release updated versions of drivers on a regular basis. Therefore, to maintain your system’s performance you should update your drivers periodically to avoid conflicts, crashes and errors.

You can find the most recent and updated drivers easily on the Internet. Your device manufacturer’s website and your operating system’s website are the most reliable sources to download driver updates. While downloading, make sure that the driver you are downloading is compatible to your device as well as the operating system.

One way of updating your driver is to do it manually. You can do this with the help of the Windows Device Manager utility. This utility enables you to see the list of all system hardware components on your PC.

To manually update the drivers for any of these devices, first thing you need to do is to download the driver update from the Internet and then save it at a convenient location on your hard disk.

To open the Device Manager, go to Start, select Control Panel, click the System icon to open the System Properties dialog box. Here, select the Hardware tab and then click on Device Manager.

In the Device manger window you will see a list of all hardware components connected to your system. Here, identify the device you want to update, right-click on it, and then select Properties. In the device properties dialog box, open the Driver tab, and then click the Update Driver button. This will launch the Hardware Update Wizard. All you have to do now is to just follow the instructions to update your driver. To complete the update process and for updates to take effect restart your computer.

If you find the manual driver update process tedious and confusing, you can download user-friendly driver scanner and update tools such as Driver Finder to do the job for you. These tools are designed to automatically scan your computer for outdated drivers, recommend updates and if required, install the required updates.

Steps to Solve PC Driver Errors

A device driver is a software program that is required by an operating system to communicate easily with the peripheral and hardware devices connected to a computer. For example, audio cards require specific audio drivers to work properly and Ethernet cards need specific Ethernet drivers to be able to communicate with networking software on your computer. Each device driver has a specific function that corresponds to a specific hardware.

Some of the common causes of driver errors are incorrectly connected hardware and obsolete, outdated or incompatible drivers.

The following is a common method that is used to resolve many different types of driver issues:

1. Ensure that your device is properly connected to the system and is turned on. Although this may seem silly, the truth is that most driver errors are resolved at this first step.
2. Sometimes installing a new program or connecting a new device can also cause errors to your system. This happens when the new device or program is not compatible with the system or one of its components. To resolve this issue, remove the new device or program from your system. If this resolves the issue, you will have to get a compatible software or device for your computer.
3. You might also face errors if your device driver becomes corrupted, or if you have installed an incompatible driver update. In this case, it is advisable that you regularly update your drivers. To update you driver, you can use the Device Manager utility. You can start the Device Manager by running the devmgmt.msc command.In the Device Manager window right-click on the faulty device and select Properties. In the device property window, check Device status to ensure that your driver is the cause of error or not. If it is, then you can select one of the three options from the Driver tab to resolve the problem.

• Update Driver: Use this option to launch the Hardware Update Wizard to download and install driver updates.

• Rollback Driver: If your error message is received soon after you have installed a new update then you can use the rollback option to revert to the previous driver version.

• Uninstall Driver: If all other options fail and you still have errors, then you may uninstall the driver completely and then reinstall it.

To update your drivers you can also use third-party driver update tools such as Driver Finder that automatically scan your system for corrupted and outdated drivers. These tools also automatically download and install relevant updates to ensure that all your drivers stay up-to-date.

Keeping your device drivers up-to-date is essential to keep your PC secure and at its best performance. Although you can use the Device Manager tool to update your driver, the process is manual and time-consuming. Also, if you are unable to take the time to perform the updates, you may completely overlook the task. Having a driver scanner tool, such as Driver Finder saves you from this task by automating driver update-related activities.