Pc System Drivers & Updates

When playing with drivers, and even more so with updates, you should seriously consider making a backup beforehand. While on the average, updates and drivers go in well enough, it's the times that aren't so average which are the most memorable.

Pc System Drivers

Drivers are updated by the manufacturer to provide bug fixes, improved performance, and additional or expanded features for our products. Normally a newer driver will be better than the older one. But this is not true in every case.

The most important thing to remember is that without drivers our various hardware products may not operate correctly or at all. Keep the original disks in a safe place, and make sure you burn backup copies of any drivers that you download. Because if you can't find drivers that will work, you simply cannot use the device. The device is pretty well good for the garbage.

Drivers are software that Windows needs in order to use a specific device. For example, a new video card, sound card, or game pad. Digital cameras and mp3 players often come with a driver disk to provide additional tools and managment features for these devices.

Windows does, however, provide an incredible array of drivers, and a large majority of current hardware can be installed with at least basic functionality using the Windows-provided drivers. And Windows update often posts driver updates.

To find new drivers for your device, your first bet would be the manufacturer's website. If you don't know the website of the manufacturer, you should be able to find it easily enough using your favorite search engine. Simply enter the company name, and add the product number and model, if you like.

If the manufacturer doesn't provide drivers for your device, perhaps if it is too old, then you may have to broaden your search to one of the many driver websites. These websites are basically enormous warehouses for drivers, including some truly ancient ones.

The problem with these driver sites is that they often require you to pay for a membership, sign up to a mailing list, or some other obligotory duty. On the bright side, there is a possibility that even if the exact driver you need was never made, the site users may have posted compatible drivers that will give you a chance to find something that will work.

Pc Software Updates

Software updates are usually quite useful, but as with the drivers mentioned above, they can also be a real nightmare. Before installing any updates you should make a backup. Sometimes what should go perfectly well, what has gone perfectly well the last 100 times, can spell disaster.

Usually software manufacturers will release updates to fix problems, and improve and expand functionality. Usually this is what the update does, but not always.

Before you update any of your software, read a bit about the update. No matter how little you may know about your software, you will probably be able to tell if this update even applies to what you are doing.

A good example would be an update that affects a program's abilities when faxing by email. If you don't fax by email, you probably don't need that one. However, if the same update say improves a feature you use, like making a table of contents, you may just need or want this update.

Software updates can be found much in the same manner as drivers. Just head over to your favourite search engine and pump in the name of the company and/or software. This should put you on the right path straight away.

Windows updates are another matter, however. These ones, or at least some of them, can be really important. Of course, some of them probably won't be of much interest to you. Security updates can be very important, as can the .Net Framework and DirectX.

The .net updates can have a serious impact on system performance and capabilities, and a whole ton of Windows software does have certain minimum requirements. Another one to keep an eye out for is an update that affects monitor drivers.

Sometimes Windows update will provide updated colour settings for various monitors, which can dramatically improve the video quality on your screen.

Now the service packs are downright scary sometimes. But these are also important, and can be necessary, even if they cause us some misery from time to time. As with DirectX and .Net, many software packages will specify a minimum service pack requirement. For example, Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), or Windows Vista SP2.

If you don't have the right Windows updates, many software packages, device drivers, and software updates may refuse to install, crash during installation, or fail to operate after installation. Well, actually there are a lot more ways than this that things can go wrong, including losing your Windows operating system all together.

To avoid that somewhat scary scenario isn't hard. If a program you are trying to install says it requires Service Pack X, go get it or don't install the program. When installing software, if it says you need something you don't have, either get what you need, or don't install the program.