Find Up-To-Date Drivers For Your PC

Updating driver software is an important but often neglected part of computer maintenance. Drivers are programs that allow your computer to communicate with all the different parts inside and outside. Your computer has several disk drives, cards, and other internal components that are not part of the basic motherboard and processor. You also have a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and possibly a printer, webcam, and other peripheral devices. Each of these pieces is made by a different company, and they do not automatically know how to work together. Fortunately, each device has a software program called a driver that tells your computer how to find and use that device. Some drivers come on disks with the components, and others are downloaded from the manufacturer's website.

Your computer's operating system gets updated on a regular basis, either automatically or manually by prompting you to download and install updated software. These updates provide important bug fixes, security improvements, and other helpful things that improve the operating system. This means that your operating system changes over time. The original drivers for your components are designed to work with a specific version of your operating system, and as this software changes the drivers are less functional. Driver software also has updates, but these must be acquired from the device manufacturer. When all your software is up to date, your system can function at peak performance.

Updating drivers can be done without any special programs or materials. All you have to do is open Windows Device Manager and then look for out-of-date drivers. Then you need to find the manufacturer's website for each driver that needs to be updated, and then download and install that driver software. It is a very good idea to make a backup copy of your drivers before you update them. If something goes wrong with the installation, or the new driver does not work, you want to be able to restore the working version of the driver software right away.

If you are not confident handling this task by yourself, you can have a technician do it for you. Professional computer help is usually effective but can be expensive. Another option is to get a driver update program. A good updater will scan your device drivers, at regular intervals, and let you know if they are out of date, if there is a newer version available, or if there is a problem with the driver. Some programs also allow you to make backup copies of driver software.

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