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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?
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If you bought a computer
the discs should come with your computer. If you have lost your disc, drivers can be downloaded from manufacturer's websites for free
as you already own their product. Like,
Http://www.acer.com All you have to do is type in the model number and
name of your computer. For Example: Acer desktop T310 and then type "driver
download" with it.
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If you built the computer yourself, a
driver disk should have been supplied with your motherboard. Store this disk
in a safe place. If you buy a separate video card then you will need a driver
disc for this also.
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If you have a second hand computer
with no disks and all components are onboard, then you must search for the
motherboards model number in Google. However if you have a separate sound
card, you need to find the device driver for its model number and not for onboard
sound on the motherboard.
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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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About the Author
Mitz Pantic wrote this article
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