Possible Problems if Drivers aren't kept Up-to-Date
As youíve learned more about computers and the need to keep your computerís device drivers current, you may wonder, ďWhatís the big fuss?Ē Keeping your computer updated with the latest device drivers prevents numerous problems including: erratic behaviour, poor performance, known conflicts with other devices, known bugs, computer freezes, hardware failure, and even data loss. In addition to all of these possible problems with out-of-date drivers, file corruption can also affect your computerís drivers which in turn affects your computer and your device.
When your computer is running old device drivers, erratic behaviour and poor performance are common. Your device may not work as expected, the computer may generate computer errors, the computer may fail to recognize the device, it may take forever for instructions to be executed, and the computer may run slowly.
In addition, your hardware may conflict with another installed component which causes problems, too. For example, if your sound card wonít cooperate with your CD-ROM drive, you may not be able to play music CDs on your computer or the computer may completely crash every time you attempt to do so. Intermittent computer errors are often due to hardware conflicts which can be hard to pinpoint due to the randomness of the errors.
Faulty device drivers and drivers with known bugs are notorious for causing computer hang ups and crashes. This can lead to data loss because every time your computer crashes, further damage can occur. Open files may become corrupt, or at the very least, you may lose data that hadnít been saved before the crash. In addition, the device may stop working completely which is common with corrupt device drivers.
By updating your device drivers, you can solve erratic device and computer behaviour, poor performance issues, computer errors, known conflicts with other hardware, known bugs, and driver corruption. You can also prevent further damage because your computer will be more stable and less prone to crashing.
The next time your computer is acting finicky or your hardware is not working, it may be time to update your computer drivers. Now that you know that keeping your drivers current can prevent so much, you should take the time to regularly check for driver updates and keep your computer drivers up-to-date.
Windows provides a nifty tool for checking the status of your computerís drivers called Device Manager. You can access this tool directly from the Control Panel under the System icon. It shows you a list of expandable categories. From there, you can find the device in question in the list and double click it to view information about the driverís name and version number. An Update Driver option is also available.
Keeping your computerís device drivers current solves and prevents computer problems. Make sure to make updating drivers a regular part of your computer maintenance routine.
Device driver updates Cannot possibly be any easier