Device drivers are the mediators of technology. Yes, technology too needs mediators. No matter how advanced a certain gadget may be, without a driver to tell the computer how to make the gadget work, it will remain a useless piece of hardware or metal. Thus, the concept of drivers can now slowly be grasped.
Simply put, device drivers contain the set of instructions that enables the device to run on a computer. Although certain gadgets may run on its own for a while, eventually it will need the computer or laptop for recharging or modification. Examples of these gadgets are MP3 players or iPods. Other gadgets on the other hand are built to carry out some computer processes. Examples of these are printers and scanners. Big or small, all gadgets that need to run on a computer in one way or another, need the assistance of a hardware driver.
However, new versions and new gadgets are being constantly. With this, one may ask, can the device drivers of old versions run the new gadgets? The answer is no. This is why users must always update their drivers.
Updating is the process of renewing the device drivers. Some gadgets built are able to run on older versions of drivers, but most of them require the new ones.
There are two ways to update a device driver: automatically and manually. Manual updating involves the user himself. Manual updating is a different process for different types of operating system, but it generally involves installing the new device driver and deleting the old one. All computer systems usually store all the hardware drivers in one place, deep in the computer’s hard drive.
Manual updating however has proven to be quite a hassle for many users. It is tedious, and usually, users are to be fairly computer literate for them to keep track of the different installations they are making.
Automatic updating on the other hand is much easier. Updating of drivers in the computer is done automatically. This is made possible by using Driver scanners or Driver update softwares. These are applications that scan for the newest device drivers online and automatically update the user’s device drivers in their hard drives. Not only this, but once the new hardware driver has been installed, driver scanners also delete the old and obsolete files from the previous device drivers to prevent them from clogging up the computer’s memory space. This can help the computer avoid slowing up in the future.
There are many available Driver scanners, and most of them can also be downloaded online. An example would be Driver Detective. Driver Detective automatically scans your computer for each drivers and access the most up-to-date drivers.
Driver update software is a truly convenient breakthrough. It has eliminated the tiresome task of knowing all one’s devices just to keep them up to date. Those hours of scouring for those elusive hardware drivers can now be reduced to minutes. All one really has to do is sit back, relax, and watch your device drivers update instantly.