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I want to know how to restore all my drivers, my kids deleted them and then turned off System Restore.

First off, if the kids turned off System Restore AFTER they deleted the drivers, that’s actually good news. System Restore will roll the computer back to any point before your problems started, and may restore all of your drivers without any further trouble.

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If you have a problem restoring or downloading device drivers for your PC, we strongly recommend you download the free DriverCure scanner. This handy tool will make sure all the exact match drivers are installed so that all programs and hardware operate properly.

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System Restore

You may have already figured this out, but to turn System Restore back on so that it will continue to set restore points, go to Start and right click on My Computer. Choose Properties. When you see the System Properties dialog box, click on the System Restore tab. Uncheck the mark by “Turn off System Restore”. Close the dialog box.

To use System Restore in normal mode, go to Start and then All Programs and Accessories. Choose System Tools and click on System Restore. You will see a Welcome Screen. Choose “Restore my computer to an earlier time”. Click Next and you will be asked to select a date to restore to - pick a date that is just before the kids started messing with your computer. The computer will shut down and reboot. See if your device drivers have been restored.

Device Driver Rollback

If that doesn’t work, you can try the Device Driver Rollback feature from Microsoft. You need to be logged in as an administrator. Go to Start and then Control Panel. Choose “Pick a Category” and then Performance and Maintenance. You will see “or pick a Control Panel icon” - click System. You will see the Hardware tab. Choose Device Manager. You will need to expand the device type you want to work with. Right click that device and click Properties. On the Driver tab, choose Roll Back Driver. You will be asked if you really want to roll the driver back, choose Yes. The system will restore, click Close and exit the Device Manager.

Manually Restore Device Drivers

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If all else fails, you will have to manually restore the device drivers either from the CD that came with the device or by going to the device manufacturer’s website. You can also try third-party software such as Driver Genius or DriverCure that will manage most device drivers for you. In older computers, you will have to get each device driver separately, but in newer computers there should be an easier way. In newer systems, all of the device drivers are kept on the motherboard, so if you update the driver for the motherboard, all of the other devices should be updated as well. You should be able to find the motherboard driver on the CD that came with it, or by going to the website for the manufacturer.

Hopefully, it won’t be too difficult to get your device drivers back. In the future, tell the kids to stay away from the computer until they can make themselves useful and fix it for you.

My laptop won’t recognize my movie, picture, and music device. Help?

System Requirements

The first step we need to take is to check the system requirements of the device and make sure that it your laptop is compatible. For example, if you have a Windows XP laptop but the device requires Windows Vista, the device won’t work. Once we’re positive that the system requirements have been met, we’ll move on to troubleshooting the device’s setup.

Plug and Play Devices

Most modern devices are plug and play devices. That is, you plug them into your computer, your computer recognizes the device, and the device plays as expected. This functionality is wonderful as users no longer have to install the software or tweak their system in order for the new device to work. However, not all devices are plug and play devices and even those that are occasionally run into snags.

Plug and play devices are automatically detected by Windows because Windows has the device drivers preinstalled. As new plug and play devices are manufactured, the manufacturer coordinates with Microsoft. Your computer automatically gets the updated device drivers from the Windows Update service. With this in mind, the next step is to update Windows just in case your movie device is relatively new and your system out of date. You can learn more about updating Windows on the Microsoft Update Web site.

Manual Device Driver Updates

Once your operating system is updated, connect the device to the laptop and see if Windows detects it. If so, Windows will load the appropriate device drivers and the device will soon be fully functional. If not, we’ll need to manually install the device drivers.

Did the device come with an installation CD? If it did, use the CD to install the device. If it did not, go to the device manufacturer’s Web site and search for your device in the technical support section. Most manufacturers have a downloads section where you can download specific device drivers for your device and operating system. Follow the directions for downloading and installing the device drivers.
Hardware Errors

A common problem with portable devices such as USB music players and digital cameras is that the hardware itself is bad. If your laptop has several USB ports, try plugging the device into each one as you may have a bad USB port. If none of the ports work, then the cable or the connection on the device’s end may be bad. This happened to me with a Sansa MP3 player. A quick trip to the store to exchange the device solved the problem. One of the pins on the MP3 player’s connector was bent.

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.