As you know, the drivers were created in order to familiarize the operating system (in our case Windows) with this or that equipment. In other words, their task is to teach the system to communicate with the device, manage it, transmit and receive information, etc. Updating drivers in many cases is not at all necessary, since devices do not bear much responsibility (for example, web-cameras, a mouse, keyboard, etc.) - a one-time installation is quite enough. However, devices such as a video card and sound card require these updates because the software they control (video and music editors, games) is constantly updated.
Driver Update: The Easiest Way
Today, the world is committed to automating any process. The same thing happens with personal computers. Thanks to this, various programs for updating drivers have appeared, which themselves are able to detect outdated or completely missing drivers and update or install them.
All such programs can be divided into two categories:
- Those that can work without the Internet. By installing a similar program or starting it from disk, you can update drivers without access to the network. Usually they are large (from 3 GB or more).
- Those that work only over the Internet. Such programs are small in size, but when installing a driver they need the Internet, since they will download files from the network.
Working with them is easier than ever - after starting the program itself will offer an update or driver installation, it will perform all the necessary actions. It is worth noting that updating drivers using one of these applications is not always free. Therefore, it is up to you to decide whether to pay for convenience or try to find the necessary software yourself.
Driver Update: Do It Yourself
It is a little more difficult to independently perform both updating and installing drivers. The very first thing that can be done is to turn to friends, maybe someone and
has the necessary software. But if there are no such friends, then you can update the drivers yourself using the Internet.
First of all, you need to find out the name of the device that requires updating or installing the driver. This can be done using special utilities (such as Everest Ultimate), which will show the name. Knowing the name of the device, it is already easier to find the necessary software. If the manufacturer is known (for example, Nvidia), you can go to its official website - there you will definitely find the necessary driver for the latest version.
Updating the drivers for Windows 7, Vista, XP can be done in another way. When the device name is unknown and there are no special utilities to find out, you can try to find the necessary software by device ID. To do this, click the mouse (right-click) on the “My Computer” icon and select “Properties”. For Windows7 and Vista, “Device Manager” will immediately appear on the right side, for XP you need to go to the “Hardware” tab in the upper part of the window, and then click the “Device Manager” button.
A long text will appear. However, the most valuable information is at the very beginning of the line - these are PCI \ VEN_ (characters) and DEV_ (characters). These data carry the name of the manufacturer (seller) and the device supplied by him. Thus, you can update the drivers, knowing exactly the name of your equipment and the company that produced it.