August'01 Tools

A device driver is a program that controls a particular type of device that is attached to your computer. There are device drivers for printers, monitors, CD-ROMs, disk drives, etc.

Driving your computer devices...

When you buy an operating system (such as Windows), many device drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with the operating system. For other devices, you may need to load a new driver when you connect the device to your computer. In Windows environments, drivers often have a.DRV extension.

A driver acts like a translator between the device and programs that use the device. Each device has its own set of specialized commands that only its driver knows. In contrast, most programs access devices by using generic commands. The driver, therefore, accepts generic commands from a program and then translates them into specialized commands for the device.

Most peripherals today are what's known as Plug and Play. When you restart your computer after installation, Windows instantly recognizes the new hardware. When Windows finds the new hardware, it has to add the driver software to control the hardware. This software may be included on the Windows CD or may come on a floppy disk or CD with the hardware itself. At some point in the search for a driver, Windows may ask if you have a disk. If so, insert the disk into the proper slot and follow the directions on the screen to continue.

According to Microsoft, Windows can identify and properly configure 90 percent of the expansion cards and peripherals out there.

Updating your drivers...

Although the device you add to your computer system, such as a printer, or a scanner, will stay the same, its driver will change. Drivers are frequently updated - sometimes as often as every two months - to make the driver faster or less likely to have conflicts with other pieces of hardware or new software.

If you are having a problem with a device for your computer, one of the first things you should consider if updating the driver for that device. If you know the manufacturer, the best option is to contact them, either online or by phone, and see if there is a new driver available - usually they will send you one, or let you download one for free.