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Drivers Education

Running your PC with outdated drivers is like driving your car on bad tires: You can get where you're going, but the trip will be needlessly bumpy, and you risk crashing. It's not unusual for hardware manufacturers to send products to market before all the bugs are ironed out, and the drivers that come installed on a new PC or with a new piece of hardware can quickly go out-of-date. Here's how to find and install the latest drivers.

Know your make and model: Typically, the latest drivers for your PC's hardware are available for downloading from the manufacturer's Web site or from a site such as DriversHQ.com that specializes in finding drivers. Know the exact model number of the component and the current driver's version number before you start looking for an update.

You can find this information in Device Manager by double-clicking the component's listing and then selecting the Driver tab. Or download and run Driver Detective, a handy free utility from DriversHQ.com (see FIGURE 3). Go to PC World's Downloads to get your copy.

Excise the old: If you're replacing a card, remove the old card's drivers before you install the new device. Open Device Manager, select the old device, and click the Remove button. Since you can't remove the driver for a graphics card you're replacing, change its driver to the standard Windows VGA driver before you make the switch.

Be sure to follow directions: Read all the documentation you can find for the new peripheral, and heed its advice. If the new driver comes with its own installation program, use that. Otherwise, install drivers via the Driver tab in Device Manager, or by using Windows' Add New Hardware utility in Control Panel.

Don't be afraid to ask: Sometimes documentation for a device is sparse, poorly written, or just plain wrong. If you have any doubts, call the vendor's tech support line before you start the installation. This can save you hours of trouble later.

Never, ever interrupt a driver installation: If you change your mind about installing a new driver, or if you think you've made a mistake and want to start over, always finish the current installation and then uninstall it. Interrupting a driver installation may permanently alter or corrupt key system files and force you to reinstall Windows.