I have quite a few drivers that are out of date and I don’t know how to get them updated or were to look.
Out of Date Device Drivers
Devices with out of date device drivers benefit from updated drivers because the updates often repair known bugs as well as add additional features. By updating the device driver, you’ll be able to take advantage of these enhancements and may even notice that your computer runs more smoothly as a result. For example, if your graphics card manufacturer realized after the fact that the graphics card had a major problem with DVD movies and later repaired that bug through a driver update, your out-of-date device will continue having problems whenever you play a DVD movie despite the fact that this problem has been acknowledge and repaired. By updating your device drivers, many computer errors may potentially disappear.
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Updating Device Drivers
Windows Update includes device driver updates for a number of common device drivers. If you don’t have Windows Update enabled, consider enabling it so that you get the benefit of automatic updates on a portion of your device drivers.
The Device Manager
Now, let me introduce you to the Device Manager. This is a useful utility built into the Windows operating system. Device Manager is found in the Control Panel, often under the System icon though it depends on your version of Windows and the view you choose. In Windows Vista, you can simply type Device Manager in the Search bar and the icon will appear.
Once launched, Device Manager lists categories of device types. Click the plus sign next to the category that you wish to work with. If a device is malfunctioning, you’ll see a yellow warning icon next to it. Double click the device that you want to update. The Properties box has several tabs, one of which is the Driver tab. Click the Driver tab and jot down the information provided such as: driver provider, driver version, driver date, and digital signer. You may need this information later if you have to manually search for driver updates.
Now, click the Update Driver tab and follow the prompts to automatically search for new device drivers. Pretty easy so far! If updated drivers are found, Windows will install them. Reboot the PC, even if you are not prompted to do so.
Manually Searching for Device Drivers
The automatic update feature doesn’t always find updated drivers. When none are found, check either your computer manufacturer’s Web site or the manufacturer of the device that you want to update for the latest drivers. For example, if you have a Toshiba laptop, head to Toshiba’s Web site, enter your laptop model number, and view the available downloads for your exact computer.
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If searching a hardware manufacturer’s Web site for driver updates, make sure to select drivers designed for your exact model of device and your exact operating system. Drivers are written for specific operating systems and are not necessarily interchangeable.
Using Device Driver Updating Software
Since a computer has dozens of devices, manual updates are time consuming. Many users prefer an automated solution. We recommend Driver Detective and Driver Cure. Both of these products are good choices that will find the exact driver for your computer’s hardware and peripheral devices.
Celeste Stewart | April 28th, 2009
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