What is a driver
The driver is small program code, which allows the operating system and programs to work with devices installed on the computer.
For example, in order for you to be able to use the Internet, you need a driver for network card or Wi-Fi adapter, and in order to hear the sound from the speakers - a driver for the sound card. The same applies to video cards, printers and other equipment.
Modern operating systems automatically detect most hardware and install the appropriate driver.
So why do you need to install drivers yourself if everything is done automatically? Let's look at the main reasons:
- Many people know that not all drivers are installed. For example, after Windows installations 7 to the computer, the sound may not work and there is no Internet, and USB ports 3.0 operate in USB 2.0 mode.
- Windows defaults to " standard driver for NVidia or ATI Radeon video cards”, but not “for NVIDIA GTX980”. The same goes for sound, network devices etc. Conclusion: To install a specific driver for your equipment, you will have to do it manually.
Installing drivers manually
Installing drivers - search, download to your computer and install. The discs that came with your PC usually contain outdated versions of drivers, so it is recommended to download them from the manufacturers' official websites. And if you don’t know what equipment is used on your computer, you should use the manager Windows devices.
How to view hardware in Windows Device Manager
To see a list of your computer's hardware, press on your keyboard Windows keys+R( full list combinations here Hotkeys Windows 10) and enter the command devmgmt.msc (the material TOP useful commands for Windows 7, 8 will be useful for you), press Enter or Ok.
In Device Manager you will see a list of all hardware (and other) components of your computer.
Suppose that after installing Windows the sound does not work, we guess that the problem is in the drivers, but we do not know which ones to download. In this case, the optimal procedure would be as follows:
![](https://fighters.ru/wp-content/uploads/2019/7668419.png)
In the same way, you can install other drivers in the system. If you already know what devices your PC is equipped with, then the fastest way is to download it for free latest drivers- go to the manufacturer’s website (usually, everything you need is in the “support” section). If suddenly you installed something and your computer starts to work poorly (glitches, freezes, slows down), then here’s how to restore Windows on your own.
Automatic driver installation
Many people prefer not to suffer, but to download the driver pack and automatically install the drivers.
What is a driver pack? The driver pack is a set of “all” drivers for “any” equipment and a utility for automatic detection and installation. In quotes - because we mean standard hardware that is installed on more than 90% of desktop PCs ordinary users. In most cases, this is enough.
You can download the popular driver pack Driver Pack Solution completely free of charge from the website http://drp.su/ru/. Its use is quite easy and understandable even for a novice user: all you need to do is wait for the program to identify all the devices that require installing or updating drivers, and then let it do it.
Disadvantages of using Driver Pack Solution:
- The latest versions of the driver pack install not only the drivers themselves, but also others, not necessary components, are noted in the system properties. It is difficult for a novice user to disable what he does not need.
- If any problems occur ( blue screen death BSOD, which sometimes accompanies the installation of drivers), a novice user will not be able to determine which driver caused this.
The program has the ability to install drivers offline. This is very convenient if you have a situation where there are no drivers for a network card and, accordingly, no Internet access. A huge advantage of the program is that it is compatible with almost all operating systems and can work in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Don’t be lazy to update the drivers on your computer, because today every user, with Internet access, has the opportunity to download and install many programs absolutely free of charge. automatic update drivers.
Outdated drivers can significantly affect the performance of your personal computer: many conflicts arise with the operation of one or another program, equipment begins to fail and, as a result, the computer begins to slow down. In order for everything to work as it should, you need to constantly update the drivers, but doing this manually and separately is very time-consuming and inconvenient. In this article we will look at how you can quickly update everything in one click installed drivers on your computer, search for uninstalled ones and find faulty ones. All this is done with one simple, and most importantly - completely free, a program called Driver Boster. To download, follow the link and press the button "Download for free". In the future, this program can be updated to a more advanced version, but this will cost money.
Although the paid version provides many more features than the free one. But to install drivers, the free version will be enough for us. I hasten to inform you that working with this program is very simple: it will not take much time and will not cause difficulties. After starting Driver Boster, the program automatically begins scanning systems for outdated drivers.
In this window, you are given the opportunity to update the entire set (by clicking the “Update all” button) of drivers or individually (click on the “Update” button next to the corresponding driver in the list). For example, we want to update the video adapter driver (first in the list). To do this, click the “Update” button. After which a window appears for us. Here we recommend unchecking the box "Automatically installing drivers in background» , in order to personally monitor the progress of the process. Click the “Ok” button.
Once the driver is downloaded, you will see the installation window. Here click the “Install” button. A small digression: Here, before installation, it is advisable to close all running programs, otherwise the installation may not complete correctly, which can lead to:
- Equipment failure for which you are installing the driver (this is in the best case)
- The operating system may stop starting. After this, you will have to roll back the driver, but more on that below.
Once the installation is complete, you will see a window.
Note: Before installing the driver (as described above), we recommend doing backup copy available drivers in case something goes wrong. This copy will allow you to restore the functionality of your computer in the event of a failure. To do this, go to the tab.
A window will pop up in front of you, in which there will be checkboxes opposite the reserved drivers. Let these checkboxes be present on all items (just in case). After all, it is not known in advance which driver will fail or which will conflict.
Here we press the button "Reservation". After which an archive with drivers will be created. Then you can repeat the update steps described above.
Paragraph "Recovery" needed to select a checkpoint if your system or equipment fails after installing the driver.
After switching to this tab, you will see the following window, which contains the last checkpoint for the driver. Let's assume that the equipment fails after installation. Let's try to restore the driver. To do this, select a recovery checkpoint and click “Restore”.
After recovery, restart your computer and the system will work fine again. However, if the driver still needs to be updated, then you will have to use a more complex method - manually. For information on how to update the driver manually, read the article on our website. As our many years of practice show, if you do everything correctly and slowly, then you should not have problems installing the driver
Let's summarize: We have learned how to install and quickly update drivers using a simple and at the same time very effective Driver programs Boster. As you can see, there is nothing complicated about this.
Authors of the article: Gvindzhiliya Grigory and Pashchenko Sergey |