| How to Update Windows Drivers |
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Every now and then, you may find yourself needing to update the drivers on your Windows computer. Drivers are sets of instructions that the operating system needs in order to understand the various hardware devices installed on the computer. Drivers may need to be replaced for numerous reasons ranging from corruption to conflicts with new devices or software.
Updating Windows drivers isn’t difficult thanks to the inclusion of a handy utility that does most of the work for you called Device Manager. You can either find the device driver that your hardware requires on your own or you can try using Device Manager to search for the appropriate driver. Device Manager searches your computer and the Internet for drivers.
If you are searching for drivers on your own, start with your device manufacturer. For example, if you have a device manufactured by Toshiba, go to Toshiba’s website and find their support and download areas. You can also search Microsoft’s website for device drivers that you can download.
Once you’ve downloaded a device driver, you will need to install it. This is a bit different than installing software. Instead of clicking a setup.exe file and working with an installer program, you will need to go into Device Manager.
Device Manager is located in the Control Panel. You can either click the System icon and find Device Manager in the System folder or you can click on the Device Manager icon directly. You’ll see a list of hardware devices listed by category. Expand the relevant category and find your device. For example, if you are updating a network adapter, click Network Adapters and all installed network adapters will be displayed. Right click the device you are updating and choose Properties. Next, click the Driver tab. Choose Update Driver.
You’ll have two choices: search for drivers or browse for drivers. Since you’ve already searched, located, and downloaded the device driver, you will want to choose Browse. Browse to the location where you stored the driver and follow the prompts for installing it.
You can also use the Search option to find updated device drivers if you don’t want to do it manually. Simply follow the above instructions but this time choose the Search option. Device Manager will search the Internet for updated device drivers. Once found, follow the prompts for installing the new driver.
After installing the new driver, if you don’t get the results you were expecting, you can use the roll back feature to restore the old device driver.
In addition, Device Manager features troubleshooting assistance for certain types of device driver errors. For example, some of the devices such as modems will have a Diagnostics tab. In other cases if a device is not working properly, a Troubleshoot button will appear. These tools are useful in trying to solve your device problems.
Many device problems occur after a new device or piece of software has been installed. Sometimes, uninstalling the new product will solve your problem. From there, you can check the manufacturer of the new device or software for updated device drivers that may assist with your compatibility problems.
Top pick for the best Driver Update Software:
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