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Q: What is a driver?
A: A device driver is a software program that manages communication between your computer and a hardware device. Devices like keyboards, mice, disk drives, and printers all use a software driver to interact with the operating system and other software applications.
When you buy an operating system like Microsoft Windows XP, many device drivers are built into the operating system. However, if you buy a new type of device that the operating system did not anticipate, you'll have to install a new device driver. A device driver essentially converts the more general input/output instructions of the operating system to messages that the device can understand.
Q: What drivers do I need?
A: Just run our Driver Updater Pro on your system and it will give you a detailed report on which drivers on your system should be updated.
Q: How to install driver?
A: Most driver files will come in a zip or rar format. The first thing you will need to do is extract the zip or rar file to a folder on your computer. Any new folder on the desktop, or on the C: drive will work just fine. If the downloaded file is an executable .exe file, it often will automatically extract itself to a folder on your computer, make note of that directory to use when you tell Windows where the new driver is located. Within that zip or rar file there will be a text document contain instructions on how to install it. Sometimes it is a file called SETUP that you merely need to click on to install. In some cases, you need to install the driver manually by doing the following:
- Right click on "my computer"
- Choose "properties"
- Choose "device manager" (In Windows 2000, you have to choose the "hardware" tab first and then "device manager"). This will display a list of the devices that are on your computer.
- Right click on the device and click "properties".
- Choose "driver" and click "update driver"
- You will be asked to browse for the new driver, locate the folder you placed it in choose the appropriate file.
If the driver is contained within a cab file, many compression-extraction programs (like WinZip) will be able to extract the files from the cab file as if it were a zip file.
Q: Do you need to reboot your PC after you update a driver?
A: In most cases, yes. Windows will automatically let you know if it needs to reboot before finalizing installation of the driver. Older versions of Windows are almost guaranteed to need a reboot. Modern versions of Windows will sometimes not need to, depending on the type of driver, and the hardware.
Q: When I try to install a driver, I get a warning message saying that the software has not passed Windows Logo testing, what does this mean?
A: Microsoft offers WHQL certification for drivers, effectively giving the driver a seal of approval. If a driver is not WHQL certified, you will see a warning message about it. Some hardware manufacturers choose not to have their drivers WHQL certified, or the drivers can be brand new, and not yet certified. It does not mean that the driver is bad, just that Microsoft has not officially certified it. It is typically completely safe to click the "Continue" button to install the driver.
Q: The drivers I installed from Driver Updater Pro still show up as Out of Date if I scan again.
A: There are some driver packages that will show up as "bad" even after installing the newest version of the drivers. This is due to inconsistencies in the way the dates and/or version numbers in the new driver package are included by the manufacturer of the hardware. We are working to correct these bugs in most cases, however some of these are outside of the control of Driver Updater Pro. If you have installed the newest version of the driver, rest assured that your system is up to date.
Q: My High-Definition Audio (HDAUDIO) is not working, or is not finding the correct driver. I have switched from Vista to XP and my sound no longer works.
A: Microsoft Windows recently changed to using a new method for communicating with audio devices, and requires that the HDAUDIO drivers be installed before installing the specific drivers for the audio device. If the HDAUDIO drivers are not installed first, the device will not work, and will not be detected properly by Driver Updater Pro.
Please see this Microsoft Knowledgebase article about the issue.
Microsoft does not provide the driver for download. Driver Updater Pro provides the download at the following locations, please select the appropriate download for your operating system:
Q: Windows has already installed a driver for a device, need I update it?
A: Drivers provided by Windows can only offer basic device performance. For optimal performance, you must install the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer. The most important thing to note is that the drivers provided by Windows do not contain a control panel for hardware configuration. For example, if you don't install the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer for video cards, you cannot configure the OpenGL and Direct3D options for the video card. This can noticeably lower the quality and FPS of 3D images in games. Similarly with the sound card, Windows drivers cannot offer EAX sound effects, 3D sound effects, or Dolby multi-channel surround stereo. So installing a suitable driver will enhance the full performance of device.
Q: What systems does Drivers Updater Pro work on?
A: Drivers Updater Pro can works on Windows XP 32-Bit / Windows XP 64-Bit / Windows Vista 32-Bit / Windows Vista 64-Bit. Drivers Updater Pro is not available for Macintosh, Unix or Linux.
Q: Does Driver Updater Pro install any other software onto my PC?
A: No! When you scan with Driver Updater Pro, no other software is installed onto your PC. Our Driver Updater Pro Scan Technology is 100% Guaranteed Adware Free, Spyware Free, and Virus Free.
A few reasons why you might want to update your drivers:
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You like to keep your system up to date with the latest software and updates. |
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You have a device that is not recognized or working properly. |
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You have a new game that does not work properly. |
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You have a device that is not working up to it's full potential, or is missing features. |
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You have just upgraded to a new operating system. |
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Using one device causes another not to work properly. |
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A new of piece of hardware came out and you were one of the first to own it. |
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