A driver is a critical element in the operation of any device in a computer. This separate file, through which operating system recognizes the commands of the equipment connected to the PC and reformats them into programming code. As a rule, the manufacturer adds a software CD to the package. However, even if it is the latest hardware, it will not work without the appropriate software. The reason for the incorrect operation of the element may be an outdated version of the driver. Updating the software is quite simple - the user is available as official Microsoft services, and all sorts of third-party utilities.
Do you need driver updates?
Experts do not recommend updating drivers unless there is a good reason. Absence visible problems shows that the software is working properly. Installation new version will not give a noticeable effect, so you should not focus on constant updating drivers. Mostly the latest software is essential for gamers to maximize graphic performance and eliminate bugs in games.
In addition, installing fresh software may be required in the following cases:
- the equipment does not function correctly or there are failures in its operation;
- connecting a new device to a PC;
- reinstalling the operating system.
How to update drivers in Windows 7?
You can install drivers in Windows 7 with built-in tools different ways– use automatic search or select suitable files manually.
Automatic search
First you need to open the "Control Panel" and go to the "Device Manager" section.
After that, a new window will open with a list of all equipment connected to the PC. Find in it the device for which you need to update the drivers, right-click on it and select the "Properties" menu item.
The newly opened window will contain basic information about the component. Go to the "Driver" section in the top menu and click the "Update" button.
The system will offer a choice of 2 options - to produce automatic search drivers (on the network and in PC memory) or select the appropriate file manually (only in PC memory).
We select the first option and wait for the end of the update process.
As soon as the system finishes performing all the necessary manipulations, click on the "Close" button.
This completes the driver installation. If any errors occur during the installation or search process, the user will receive an appropriate message.
Manual update
If you already have the latest versions of the drivers in your PC memory, then you can manually install the software. To do this, as in the previous method, you need to reach the item with a choice of installation options and select the second item - "Search ...".
In the window that opens, click on the "Browse" button and select the directory in which the prepared file is located.
Finally, check the path to the file and click "Next".
If the correct file is selected, the system will update the driver.
How to update drivers in Windows 8?
Windows 8 has an embedded system windows update, which is capable of performing automatic updates from a specific list. This is the easiest way to update, but the hardware list does not include all device names, so you should not rely on it completely.
In order to take advantage Windows benefits Update open the Charms Bar and go to Settings.
By clicking on the "Check for updates" button, the system will start an automatic check for drivers that require updates. By default, Windows checks for updates at the next scheduled maintenance.
If new driver versions are available, just click on the link showing the number of updates prepared for installation. It will not work to carry out a complete system update in this way - you will need to download some of the drivers manually or from the developer's websites. In this case, the same methods of updating through the device manager apply as in Windows 7. Instructions are given in the corresponding section of the article.
How to update drivers in Windows 10?
In Windows 10, as well as in version 7 or 8, it is possible to update drivers through the regular device manager. For instructions, see Update Drivers for Windows 7.
To configure the settings for the automatic update system, you need to open the "Control Panel".
Open the "System" subsection.
Click on the highlighted item "Change settings", located on the right side of the window opposite the computer name.
The system properties window will open, in which you need to go to the "Hardware" tab.
Click on the "Installation Options..." button.
The system will prompt you to enable or disable automatic updates. Select the first option and click the "Save" button.
At the end, it remains to click on the "Apply" button in the previous menu.
Updating drivers through third-party applications
Now a large number of utilities have been developed that independently update all the necessary drivers on any system - from XP to Windows 10. This is the easiest way, since it practically does not require user intervention in the process.
Driver Pack Solution
DriverPack Solution is one of the most famous driver search and installation applications. This free program with a huge software base.
To start working with the application, you need to go to the official website of the product and click on the "Install drivers automatically" button.
After installing and launching the program, it remains to click on the "Set up your computer automatically" button in the main window and follow the simple instructions from the application.
At the end of the process, all outdated software will be updated.
Of the minuses this method note the installation additional software(including third-party browsers) without the consent of the user.
driver booster
An alternative to the program discussed above is the utility driver booster. It has similar functionality, is distributed free of charge and is suitable for everyone. Windows versions since XP. Updating drivers with this program takes place in several simple steps.
First, download the installation package from the official Driver Booster website.
The solution will analyze the operating system, find obsolete add-ons and display the corresponding list to the user. The marked positions will be automatically updated by the application. The speed of the program depends on the state of the Internet and installed equipment.
Search for updates by hardware ID
If you have no desire to use third-party software, and searching for the necessary software using standard methods did not bring results, then you can find drivers by device ID for further self-installation.
As it was described in the instructions for updating Windows 7, we reach the moment the window with the properties of the device opens. Go to the "Details" tab.
In the "Property" drop-down list, select the "Hardware ID" line. After that, the corresponding data will be added to the "Value" field. Right-click on the driver designation and select in context menu"Copy".
Driver is special program, which allows the PC to recognize commands from a particular device and translate them into program code, thereby ensuring the operation of the device. Hardware connected to the computer will not work correctly if a driver is not installed for it.
As a rule, a driver disk is included with the equipment when it is purchased. However, over time, the driver installed from the disk becomes obsolete, as a result of which not only the equipment itself, but also the computer may not work correctly. To fix the "glitch", the driver needs to be updated.
How to update drivers on a computer: two ways
There are two ways to update drivers on a PC - using standard Windows tools and using third party programs. In the first case, the update is performed using a tool called "Device Manager", which can be found in the "Dashboard".
As for the second case, it must be said that today there is, of course, more than one program for updating drivers. In our article, we will consider the process of updating drivers using the example of one of the most popular programs in this area - driver booster. This program has a number of advantages - it is free, has a simple, understandable and, which is very important, Russified interface.
How to update drivers in Windows 7 using standard system tools
As we said above, updating Windows drivers by standard means of the system is carried out using the "Tool Manager" tool. How to find it and update it using it, read the instructions below:
2. In the window that opens, opposite the word "View", set the value to "Small Icons" (upper right corner).
4. A window will appear in front of you, in which you need to select the device for which you want to update the driver - for example, we need to update the video adapter driver.
5. Click right click mouse on the model of the video adapter and select the "Properties" item.
6. In the window that opens, select the "Driver" tab and click the "Update" button.
7. You will be offered two options for updating - automatic and manual. In the first case, the system will independently search for an update for the driver for this video adapter on the Internet, download it and install it, in the second case, the system will only search for the update on the PC and will be able to install it only if you have previously downloaded the update yourself.
You can download the necessary driver yourself on the Internet. To do this, you need to drive into the search engine the model of the device for which the driver is required, select a verified site in the query results (many recommend the site driver.ru) and download the required driver.
8. After pressing the corresponding button, the system will start working - it will first search for programs, and then the update process will begin.
It is possible that the system will notify you that the driver for the selected device does not need to be updated. This means that you really do not need to update the driver, and the system or hardware glitch is not due to an outdated driver, but to another reason.
9. When the update is completed, restart your computer. Done - driver updated!
How to update drivers in Windows 7 using Driver Booster
Updating Windows drivers can be very easily done using the special Drive Booster program. How to do it? Follow the instructions below:
1. Download the program from this resource . It will be downloaded as a single .exe extension file - double-click on it with the left mouse button, and the installation will proceed automatically.
2. Run the program - the first time you run it, it will automatically detect which drivers are outdated and need to be updated.
3. When the program generates a report, you can either update all drivers at once, or perform a selective update by unchecking those updates that you do not want to install.
4. The driver update procedure takes a lot of time, and therefore, if you update a lot of drivers at once, it makes no sense to sit at the PC waiting for the process to complete, especially since the process is also resource-intensive and you won’t be able to do some work normally, especially if you have a weak PC.
Note! Significant failures and lags during the update process are quite acceptable!
5. Upon completion of the update process, you will only have to restart the PC and the program will notify you of the success of the operation.
Results
So, now you know how to update the drivers on your computer and understand that this task is quite simple. And which update method to choose is up to you. But in general, if you need to update one driver and you know which one, standard Windows tools, no need to download any third party software. And if you do not know which driver is the problem and / or want to update several drivers at once, you, of course, are better off using Driver Booster. We wish you good luck and hope you succeed!
Good afternoon. I have already written several times in my articles about drivers. If you forgot what they are for, I will remind you: - Drivers are the link between the elements of the computer and the OS installed on your system. When purchasing a new PC item, such as sound card, together with it you are given a CD, which contains the drivers necessary for the correct operation of the sound card.
Of course, I do not mean only sound cards, but all the elements connected to your computer. Be it external or internal devices. Of course, for devices connected to the computer, only drivers created by the manufacturer of these elements are needed. Subsequently, these drivers are updated. remain on the disk outdated drivers. Therefore, you need to go to the device manufacturer's website and update the drivers for this device.
How to quickly update drivers on Windows 7 8.1 10
I said go to the manufacturer's website and update the drivers. But, it's not all that simple. You don't know which drivers need to be updated and which don't. Moreover, there are quite a lot of drivers on the computer.
This is easy to get confused. You can, for example, go to the website of the manufacturer of the same sound card and check if there is an update or not? But, as I said, there are a lot of drivers, and going to the sites of all devices to check for updates is simply unrealistic.
You can do it differently. For example, install updates on the machine. Quite convenient. You do not need to go to the site of a certain element of the computer. But, there is also a minus, moreover, a huge one. Imagine you set up a video card update and started working on your computer. And suddenly, at the most inopportune moment, a message appears on the monitor that a new update has been found and the computer will restart in order to reinstall the drivers correctly. Your work may be wasted if you do not have time to save the data.
What can be done in this case? There is only one way out, install special software to find and update drivers. There are many similar programs on the Internet and it is easy to get confused in them. At the same time, if the program is not of high quality, then, most likely, it will not find the drivers that you need. This is fraught with consequences. For example, the computer may simply not turn on.
What is the conclusion from this? It is necessary to install programs from trusted manufacturers. I like the German company Aschampoo. A fairly well-known manufacturer with many programs. To update drivers, the company offers the Ashampoo program Driver Updater 16.
Update drivers with Driver Updater
The program has a convenient and clear interface in Russian. On this moment, the software can update more than 400,000 drivers from 150,000 devices. Scanning the system is pretty fast. Eat backup drivers, in case something goes wrong.
The update is slower than the scan. And a lot. The duration depends on the number of drivers and themselves. Some drivers update quickly, some rather slowly. But, the main thing is that the drivers are suitable for the computer. Among the shortcomings - the program is paid. But, there is a demo version for a free period. You can go to the manufacturer's website and download Driver Updater (demo version).
But, you can just find a trusted torrent site and download from it this program. Although, this is ugly in relation to the manufacturer. So let's download Ashampoo Driver from Torrent Site. We install the program. Do not forget to put the Russian language during installation.
After installing the program, it immediately starts scanning the computer for old drivers.
My program found 6 outdated drivers.
Before upgrading, I recommend creating a . In addition to the restore point, let's go to the menu with the "Backup" right and create copies of the drivers we need by checking the boxes above them (you can check them all). I advise you to be sure to check the box "Display adapters, monitors, processors, keyboard, mice." Otherwise, if the update fails, the computer may crash.
So, click "Start Backup". The program starts copying the drivers.
Regarding the "Recovery" menu, I think everything is clear. If the update fails, select the necessary backups, and restore the previous drivers by clicking "Restore Now".
Let's go to the "Settings" menu. In the "General Settings" I advise you to leave everything by default. But, if you need, you can check the box above the item, for example, “Scan at startup”. Although, I do not recommend you do this. Why do you need to scan drivers every time you start your computer?
The driver menus show you where on your hard drive the folder containing backup drivers. Over time, I advise you to delete old copies. Don't mess up your computer. Also, make sure that the "Create a restore point" slider is enabled.
If you do not want to update a specific driver, in the menu "Ignored list" you need to put the path to this driver and given driver will not be updated. This can be useful if a certain device on the computer is very old.
In the "Scheduler" you can set the time and day when you want the driver scan to start. For example, let's set weekly, the day is Tuesday and the time you need. You will know that a driver scan will start at this time and will not load the computer during the update.
In the "Connection" menu, we leave everything by default. Otherwise, if you mess up something, the Internet may disappear.
Now it remains to start the update. To do this, click start update. We have a warning.
We agree with the notification by clicking "OK, I understand." We are starting an update.
As you can see from the screenshot, the program backs up, creates a restore point, checks the integrity of the drivers. The update took me two hours. But, these are trifles compared to the fact that the drivers were installed successfully. At the end of the update, an inscription appears: - “Congratulations! Your drivers have been successfully updated."
Conclusion: - Ashampoo Driver Updater 16 is a very convenient and practical driver updater, able to search for drivers quite quickly and efficiently. This is one of the best programs of a kind! Good luck!
Computer technology does not stand still, and manufacturers regularly update software for computer components. And in order for the operating system to work stably, it is very important to know how to update drivers on windows 7. First, let's figure out what a driver is? A driver is a special program that is responsible for the correct interaction peripherals and additional components with a computer. It turns out that neither a computer, nor a printer, nor other devices will work without drivers. There are only two ways to install and update drivers:
- automatic update;
- manual update.
The stable operation of the system can be disturbed by viruses that need to be removed. You can find out how to clean your computer from them in this article. The browser is often worth checking and cleaning separately, which you can learn about.
Update drivers automatically
You can view all installed drivers for your sound card and other devices in "Device Manager". You can open it like this:
1. Click the Start button, in the search box, type "Device Manager", open it with a mouse click.
3. Here we are offered two options for installing drivers: automatically and manually. We will choose to automatically update windows 7 drivers and the program will start searching Microsoft update servers.
4. After the search is completed and the driver is found, the driver will be updated. Click OK to finish.
This method has its drawbacks - although the Microsoft driver database is huge, it still does not cover all devices, so you may encounter the fact that the driver will not automatically update.
Manual driver update
Consider the case when you need to update the driver manually. First, let's figure out how to check drivers for windows 7. We select the device for which we need to update the driver, let it be a video adapter, and go through the steps:
- right - click on the line with the video adapter and select " Properties " ;
- in the window that appears, switch to the “Driver” tab and remember which version of the driver we have installed;
- we launch the browser and in the search line we write the model of our video card;
- go to the manufacturer's website;
- select the model of our video card and the version with the bitness of the operating system;
- we look at the driver version, if the version is different, download the latest version of the driver;
- we make the installation;
- after installation, check the driver version.
How to update drivers for Windows computer 7, independently, manually.
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operating room Windows system 7, or, as it is affectionately called, the seven, has been enjoyed by many users. It is so convenient, easy to use, that people are in no hurry to switch, even to the top ten, despite the fact that the licensed operating Windows system 10 was distributed free of charge.
However, sooner or later, everything becomes obsolete, stops working normally, even the seven is no exception. If you do not update the operating system, drivers in time, then various problems begin.
In principle, if the Windows 7 OS is licensed, then you have a check mark for automatically tracking and updating the system, then there should be no problems. The system itself will determine which driver should be updated in order to work correctly.
But what to do if you have a ban on automatic updates? Today we will deal with this issue, and I will tell you how to reinstall the drivers for Windows 7.
First of all, let's explain plain language What is a driver and why is it needed.
Driver
The driver is an intermediary between the hardware connected to the computer and the operating system.
In other words, without the appropriate driver, the operating system will not be able to recognize, for example, the same mouse, or printer, and other equipment and components. For example, to determine the video card, you also need a special driver.
When the driver becomes outdated, the system stops recognizing components and malfunctions begin. That is, a driver is a program that provides normal work devices.
And each device has its own driver. When you buy equipment for a laptop or computer, then most often they sell you a disk with software, which tells the system what kind of device it is and what functions it performs.
Driver update
As I said, if you have a licensed Windows, and there is a checkmark to automatically update the system, then there will be no need to reinstall and update the drivers. The system will do all the work for you.
In the event that the system does not update automatically, a manual update of the drivers is required. What are we going to do now.
First you need to go to the control room of all installed devices located on the control panel.
A window with a list of devices will open. In turn - click on the right, with the mouse, for each device, select the item - update drivers.
If there is no such item, then click on the properties, then select the driver, then update.
Specify only automatic search, driver update, the system itself will find the appropriate software.
Your Windows 7 operating system will automatically find and then replace the necessary driver. However, that's not all, so you changed the driver on one device, and in order to replace all the drivers on a Windows 7 computer, you should follow the same steps with all devices from the list.
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