Why do I need to Update Drivers in Windows 7?

Whether you have recently upgraded to Windows 7 from an older Operating System, or bought a new PC with Windows 7 pre-installed, you will need to ensure that your Windows 7 Drivers are up-to-date

What are Drivers for Windows 7?

Drivers are essentially pieces of software which enable communication between your Operating System and your hardware or peripheral devices. In other words, your printer will not be able to communicate with your Windows 7 Operating System without the relevant Windows 7 Printer Drivers.

Drivers are specific to the Operating System (Windows 7 in this case) and the device such as Printer. There are also Drivers specific to each model of printer, sound car, modem etc. In some cases a Driver for model ‘a’ will work on model ‘b’ but may not perform as well. In the case of Sound Cards, the sound quality may not be as good or you may experience more serious problems such as freezing programs or crashes.

For this reason it is always important to keep all your Drivers up-to-date.

Where do I update Drivers for Windows 7?

In many cases you will be able to get the relevant Driver from the manufacturers website. However, in cases of older or more obscure Drivers, or when you wish to automate this process, you can use a driver update tool. Such tools can scan your PC for missing, corrupt or out-of-date Drivers and then update these Drivers to the most recent version. This is useful in that it ensures that your Drivers are kept up-to-date and once installed, it is one less thing to worry about!

What are some common Windows 7 Driver Problems?

I just installed a new device (printer etc.) and it is not working

This is the most common problem with Windows 7 Drivers. You need to make sure

• the device is compatible with Windows 7, it should say so on the box or the accompanying documentation
• you have installed the necessary Drivers or used the driver update tool
• You have restarted your computer since installing

My Device was working but now is not

If hardware and cables all look in good working order, then this is most likely an issue with your Windows 7 software drivers. You can run a driver update tool to check if your Drivers need to be updated

Some of the more common Windows 7 issues relate to iPhone syncing with Windows 7, HP Multifunction Printer issues (if Driver updates don’t work try support.hp.com for further information) and DVD audio problems when upgrading to Windows 7. In the case of the latter you will need to update the audio Drivers and you may need to ensure that the older Drivers are not selected in Control Panel (Control Panel > Hardware and Sound)