Device Drivers

Before a computer's operating system can recognize and address a hardware device, it needs a set of instructions telling it how to do so. These instructions are known as device drivers. If a device in or attached to your computer isn't working properly, one of the first things you should do is see if its driver has been corrupted.

Many of the drivers for a computer's basic components (such as hard drives and floppy drives) are quite generic. The information needed to control and access these devices has become integrated into the BIOS and the operating system, and usually we don't need to install any additional drivers for such basic devices.

More complex devices, however, require specialized drivers to function properly. Inadequate or outdated drivers are among the most common reasons for poor performance of computer components.

Part of the problem is that Microsoft includes a great many drivers on installation disks for each of the various versions of Windows it publishes. This is done for a good reason: They want to make the process of installing the OS as painless as possible. So they include a wide variety of drivers in the hope that once the OS is installed, all of your computer's components will, at least, have some measure of functionality.

But the drivers that Microsoft includes on the installation disks often are neither the best nor the most recent drivers available for any given device. To try to cram full-featured drivers for the thousands of available devices onto a CD-ROM -- and then keep them up-to-date -- would be impossible. So Microsoft includes basic drivers that are intended to get the device to work, at least minimally, when the computer is first booted after the OS is installed. It is then up to the computer's owner to get the most recent drivers available.

To find current drivers, your best bet is to visit the computer manufacturer's web site (or the web site of the manufacturer of the hardware device in question) and look for a link to "support," "drivers," or "downloads." Once you are certain that the driver is the proper one for your device and operating system, follow the manufacturer's instructions to download and install the driver.