Hello everybody!
This video will show you how to install or safely update device drivers for Windows.
If a device driver is not installed, or the installed version of the driver is not compatible,
such device will not work properly, or even make your computer freeze or cause Windows
errors, especially blue screen errors.
In ANOTHER video, I have already given a detailed guide on discovering the causes of a blue
screen error, and explained how to fix it.
Follow the link in the description: If you have no problems with how your computer
and all of its devices work, then your drivers must be all right.
All drivers are usually installed and updated: • automatically when installing the operating
system; • automatically with Windows Update;
• manually by the user through Device Manager; • manually by the user, from the manufacturer’s
official website or from the installation disk supplied with a certain device.
When installing the operating system, drivers for all of the computer’s devices are installed
at the same time.
In 99% of the cases, Windows installs all the necessary drivers.
It is an automated process that requires no user participation.
Later, Windows Update will automatically download and install latest drivers.
Even if you have installed your own drivers, Windows may overwrite them automatically when
a newer version is available.
Using Windows Update, you can forget about searching and updating drivers, as this function
will do everything for you.
You can view latest driver updates: • if you go to Settings / Update and Security
/ Windows Update • Click on “Update history” to see all
updates installed; • Click here to remove them.
Looking ahead, I should say that the system does not always install correct drivers.
That’s why advanced users sometimes disable automatic Windows update.
You can watch a special video about disabling Windows 10 automatic update by following the
link in the description:
The only drivers that Windows 10 can have problems updating are graphics drivers.
To check for updates and install them, you can use a utility that comes with the drivers.
NVIDIA, AMD and Intel offer such an opportunity.
The utility will automatically check and download the latest graphics driver updates.
Just open an NVIDIA GeForce, AMD Radeon or Intel graphics control panel depending on
what device is installed in your computer.
Such utilities are often found in the system tray, or can be located through the Search
menu.
The operating system will NOT update graphics drivers every time that NVIDIA or AMD roll
out a new version.
That’s why all gamers have to take care about their hobby.
Let’s move on.
If you feel that a device connected to your PC works in an incorrect way, and you are
sure it’s in a good technical condition, the problem might be caused by drivers.
To update a driver: • Go to Device Manager (right-click on the
Start menu and select Device Manager) • Right-click on the necessary device and
select Properties.
• Click the Driver tab You can see all the information about the
device driver: provider, date and version.
This is the driver installed automatically by the operating system.
If you see that it’s out of date, or its version is not relevant (it is also possible),
you can try updating it manually.
To do it, just click on “Update Driver...” and follow the update wizard directions.
On the contrary, if the device started working with errors after you updated the driver,
or after automatic update by the operating system, you can return to the previous version
by clicking on “Roll Back Driver...”
If the operating system cannot update or install a device driver properly, and when you attempt
a manual update the system tells you the most suitable driver is already installed, you
can still update it manually by downloading and installing the drivers from the device
manufacturer’s official website.
It is important to download the driver that is certainly compatible with your device.
You can learn the manufacturer, name and model of a device with the help of a diagnostic
utility (there are so many of them available).
For example, I use AIDA64.
Go to the manufacturer’s website and look for the page where you can download drivers
for a certain device model.
In most of the cases, it’s a webpage with a long list of drivers for download.
By the date of publication, you can easily see which one is the latest.
Then all you have to do is to find, download and install the driver.
There are also many third-party utilities for updating drivers, for example, Driver
Booster Free, DriverPack Solution, Auslogics Driver Updater and so on.
However, I don’t recommend using them - it’s better to stick to Windows built-in tools.
The best option is downloading them from the manufacturer’s or developer’s official
website.
By the way, laptop and desktop manufacturers usually offer driver packages for every model
in their websites.
I’d like to say a couple of words about digital signatures for drivers.
When a new device is connected to the computer, Windows tries to find and install a corresponding
driver.
Sometimes you can see a notice that the driver is unsigned, was modified after signing or
that it cannot be installed by Windows.
If the driver is signed by the publisher and the authenticity of such signature has been
confirmed by a certification center, you can be sure that the driver was issued by this
publisher and was not modified by anyone else.
It’s better to avoid installing a driver if you have doubts as to its origins and the
safety of its contents.
However, driver signature verification can be disabled if necessary.
You can do it like this: • From the advanced boot options menu in
Windows 7; • With the help of recovery environment
и advanced boot options in Windows 8 or 10; Watch a detailed video guide on entering and
using Windows 10 recovery environment.
You will find the link in the description:
• And with the Local Group Policy Editor, by setting up the policy “Code signing for
device drivers.”
Watch one of the following videos to learn how to disable driver signature verification.
Generally speaking, we don’t recommend updating drivers without a good reason.
As long as you have no problems, the current drivers must be all right.
Even if the newer version is available, you may not see much difference.
There’s no point in being obsessed with always having the latest drivers for every
device in your computer.
Still, there can be good reasons to update graphics drivers.
For example, game enthusiasts try to keep their graphics drivers as up to date as possible
to ensure the best performance and reduce errors when playing latest games.
In other cases, the latest drivers are necessary if you encounter errors and the operating
system can’t boot because some device needs better drivers.
If you decided to update drivers, don’t use a driver update utility.
It is better to go directly to the developer’s official website, or use Windows Update.
That is all for now.
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Thank you for watching.
Good luck.