How to Update Your Drivers
If you’re the type of person who likes to have loads of devices connected to your PC or laptop, such as gamepads, printers, scanners, and other peripherals, then you know what a hassle it can be when the all these gadgets and gizmos don’t work as promised. Only rarely are these faults really hardware related. Most of the time, it’s the software component of the equation, or the drivers, that really let you down. Sometimes, the drivers that come packaged along with your device are outdated, flawed, or completely nonfunctional. This means you have to take matters into your own hands and update or replace the drivers yourself.
Tracking Down Your Driver
This can be quite a daunting task, especially if you are not so well versed in computer knowledge. However, the process is pretty much the same regardless of what device you’re trying to update. Whatever device you’ve got connected to your PC, it will show up on the Device Manager, an application built into all versions of Windows that does exactly what it says – it gives you an overview, status report, and recommended fixes for your devices. You can access it by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties, and clicking on Device Manager. It should be able to tell you if your drivers are improperly installed, not recognized, or simply out of date.
With all the essential information gleaned from the Device Manager, such as manufacturer, device model number, and driver version, you can now go driver hunting. A good place to start would be the manufacturer’s website. Simply look for their support or download page and locate the appropriate driver for your device. Keep in mind that the OS you’re running could affect what version you need to download, so check twice.
An Easier Way
While this process sounds simple enough, it can get especially tedious if you need to do it for multiple devices, and you have no way of knowing when an update comes out, so you might not be able to get it immediately. There’s also the case of tracking down drivers for devices whose manufacturers are either too small to have a website or have gone bust completely. Fortunately, a single solution for all these troubles exists. All you need to do is install Driver Detective, a program specifically designed to streamline the process of driver installation and updating. Just let it detect all your devices and it will do all the work for you, from determining the driver you need, finding it, downloading it, and even installing it. Updating drivers has never been easier.
