What are Device Drivers and why do I need them for my computer?

Many people are unaware that you actually need device drivers to run your computer smoothly. This could include display drivers, network, audio, and chipset drivers. Every device that is on your computer has a driver for it. Even a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor have drivers, however windows usually installs those ones for us.

What is a Device Driver

A driver is a small software program that helps your computer identify and run particular types of hardware. You need drivers for onboard video, an agp video card, or even a usb storage device. When you purchase a new computer it should always come with a device driver or system disk and Windows usually takes care of the common and generic drivers.

Where can you find your drivers for your computer?

4. If you have a restoration disk for your computer then everything you need should be on that disk, including the operating system. It also doesn't hurt to ask for some free computer help from a friend.

Some Examples of Devices that require drivers

• Monitors, keyboards, mouse (Windows will install these)
• Video cards, Sound Cards, PCI Cards (Rarely will Windows install these drivers)
• Usb, Ethernet, modems, flash drives (Rarely will Windows install these drivers)
• CD/DVD Roms (Windows install most drivers for these)
• And the list goes on....

Notes:

• If you upgrade your operating system from Windows XP to Vista, for example, you will need to upgrade your drivers as well. For a particular device there is sometimes 5 different  versions, depending on the age of the device. A new modem would have drivers for Windows Xp and Windows Vista. They have phased out drivers for Windows 95, 98, and 2000.

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Mitz Pantic wrote this article and others for http://www.tips4pc.com  Browse Tips4pc.com for more articles that are written in an easy to understand interface and FREE computer help.