Practice y'all know if your drivers need updating? Are you suffering unexplained calculator problems? And do you know how to update drivers in Windows x?

A driver is a software that communicates with your hardware to brand it work with your operating system. If you're having organization problem, like a printer not working or games crashing, so information technology might be indicative that your drivers need updating.

Drivers are available for your video card, sound, motherboard, and much more. All the same, yous don't always need to update your drivers for the sake of it. If everything is working well on your organization, then you might be meliorate off leaving them well alone. If they do need updating, though, we've rounded upwards a number of different methods to assistance you.

Exist sure to head to the comments section after to permit the states know what methods you use to update your outdated drivers.

Check Your Drivers

While y'all'll take drivers installed on your arrangement, you may not know precisely what they are or what version you're using.

If you're running anything from Windows XP to Windows eight, you can employ the Command Prompt to find this information. PrintingWindows key + Xand clickCommand Prompt. Blazon driverquery and hit Enter to get a list of every commuter installed on your organisation and when that driver was published.

You can also type driverquery > driver.txt to export all that information into a handy text file. The file will salvage into wherever your control prompt path is set to. So in my example higher up, that'd exist C:\Users\Joe.

Information technology's very important to acquit in mind that the date given is not when you last updated the driver, it's the appointment the driver you lot're using was published. As such, although a driver might have a Link Date of some years dorsum, it isn't necessarily truthful that it needs updating.

However, this method doesn't piece of work properly on Windows ten. The information provided is either missing or inaccurate. As such, use the free utility DriverView instead.

This volition give you all sorts of information about your drivers, similar the version number, manufacturer, installation date, and more. You can double-click a commuter on the listing to see the information in a unmarried view.

1. Update Drivers Directly From Microsoft

Windows will automatically update your drivers via Windows Update. This is usually safe and reliable because the drivers have been verified and should just be delivered to your organization if they're known to be compatible. Windows Update runs in the background and you'll only notice information technology when it requires you to restart your organization.

Windows 10 is far more pushy with updates than previous versions of the operating system. Even so, that'due south generally a expert thing, since you can set it and forget about it, and information technology's commonly intelligent enough to know when not to provide a driver update since y'all don't always need the about contempo version.

To perform a Windows Update, press Windows key + I to open Settings and go to Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.

You can disable automatic driver updates if you want, though it isn't recommended by Microsoft. To practice then, perform a system search for device installation settings and select the relevant result.

If you don't want automatic updates provided through Windows Update, select No (your device might not work as expected) and click Salvage Changes.

Y'all can e'er reverse the change past returning to this window and selecting Yep (recommended) instead.

Check out our guide on taking back control over driver updates in Windows x for more advice.

2. Update Drivers Via Device Manager

You can as well check all your devices and view their drivers using the Device Manager. To open up it, press Windows key + X and click Device Manager.

The Device Director will show all your arrangement components, like your deejay drives, display adapters, processors, and more. Double click a category to expand it and see the devices within.

To run into commuter information, right click a device, click Properties, and switch to the Commuter tab. This displays the date the driver was published, its version number, and other information.

To check for a driver update, click Update Driver. Select Search automatically for updated commuter software and Windows will search your computer and the web for the latest software. This is what it does through Windows Update anyhow, simply this is a practiced method to double cheque for a specific component. If an update is plant, follow the wizard to install it.

You tin also Scan my computer for driver software, which we'll cover in the manual update section beneath.

iii. Update Drivers Manually From The Manufacturer

You can likewise go to the manufacturer of your device and update your drivers through them. If you lot want to download drivers manually and so it's highly advisable to become straight to the source. This way you lot'll ensure the download is up-to-date and safe.

You tin use the data provided through the "driverquery" command, DriverView utility or Device Managing director to observe out what drivers yous have and who manufactures them. Head to their website and wait for their driver section (it might exist under a Support heading). Some providers, similar AMD and NVIDIA, will accept tools that can scan your arrangement and detect what commuter yous need if you're unsure.

Once downloaded, nigh of the drivers will have executables that can be opened and they'll update what's necessary. If non, caput back to the Device Manager, right-click the device, select Update driver, and click Scan my reckoner for commuter software. Bespeak the wizard to the location of your downloaded file.

If you lot bought the physical computer component itself and then you may observe that it came with a CD that includes drivers. Exist slightly wary of these considering unless they connect to the cyberspace and so in that location's a possibility they'll be outdated. The aforementioned applies to CDs that come with pre-built machines.

Avoid Third-Party Software

There's a lot of tertiary-party software out there that will claim to scan your system and update all the drivers in ane go. Exercise not use them. The methods listed to a higher place are safe. I've yet to detect any 3rd-party utilities that I'd consider truly reputable and that won't package adware alongside, install outdated drivers, or get them from dubious sources.

Besides, your drivers shouldn't need updating that frequently anyway. The modest corporeality of time it takes to perform the above methods are much more than preferable than risking a third-party tool that could potentially muck your system up.

Continue Your Estimator Healthy

You may notice that all your drivers are already upward-to-appointment if y'all've never fiddled with your system settings, cheers to Windows Update. And if everything is working well then you lot might be better off not updating them at all. It'south ordinarily things like graphics cards, which receive constant patches to support recent games, that need updating the nearly.

Remember, always download your drivers from reputable sources (directly from the manufacturer if possible). Do not install any which weren't made specifically for your devices.

For more than guidance, check out our advice on how to hands remove old drivers from Windows.

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Nigh The Writer

Joe Keeley (817 Manufactures Published)

Joe was born with a keyboard in his hands and immediately started writing about engineering science. He has a BA (Hons) in Business and is now a full-time freelance author who enjoys making tech unproblematic for everyone.

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