Computers do not function alone. There are many external devices that
are connected to the computer for various reasons. For example, Modem, Sound
Card, Network card, printer, scanner and many other devices are
connected to the computer. When we buy these hardware devices they come
with the drivers (usually in CDs). The manufacturers of these devices
develop these drivers. Because to use these devices these drivers are
necessary. We usually keep these CDs safely when we buy them. But as
time passes, we may forget where we kept those CDs. When these drivers
are required later where do we look for such drivers. Consider these
scenarios:
- You formatted your hard disk and reinstall the OS. So you need to
reinstall all the drivers for your external hardware.
- You buy a used computer from someone but forget to get the driver
CDs.
- Your computer has all the drivers, but you want to upgrade the
drivers. But you are not sure about the driver name and the device
manufacturer.
To solve all these issues you need to download drivers from
somewhere. There are many websites such as
If you know which driver you need you can goto any of these websites
and download the appropriate driver. If you don not know which
driver you want then these websites will not be of any help. Therefore
you should first know about the drivers in your computer.
Driver upgrade utilities:
If you would like to test the drivers in your computer and see if
they are functioning properly or needs to be updated then you can use
the Driver Detective utility. Goto www.drivershq.com
. You will see the 'Driver Detective' link. If you click on this link,
this utility will check all the external devices that are currently
connected to your computer and list all the drivers. If the list shows
'Bad' for any of your device such as scanner for example, then the
driver for your scanner needs to be installed. If you click this link
the appropriate driver will be installed.
Another such utility is Driver wizard software. You can
download this utility from http://drivermagic.com/p/nph-home.php
This utility will also check all the drivers in your computer and you
can install any drivers that is BAD.
Belare Advisor is another utility that can be used to detect
all your hardware from your computer. You can download this utility from
www.belare.com
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