[TIP] Time to Update Your Drivers?
A question that I get occasionally from AskBob readers is “Do I need to update my drivers?” They mention popups appearing on their screen, with warnings like 'Your drivers are out of date.' Some are getting emails or phone calls to that effect. Some upgrading to Window 11 have experienced driver issues. Here's the scoop on device drivers, what they are, what they do, when (and when not) to update them... |
Should You Update Your Device Drivers?
One reader said “I am not even sure what a driver is, but if everything seems to be working fine, do I really need to update them?” So let's start by defining the term. Device drivers, more commonly called "drivers," are small programs that act as translators between your operating system and the hardware devices inside your computer. Every hardware device needs a driver. Your printer, scanner, mouse, keyboard, hard drive, sound card and network adapter are all examples of devices that require a software driver in order to respond to commands from the operating system.
For example, when you hit the Print button, Windows issues the generic command "print," and a device driver translates that command into the specific instructions needed by your particular make and model of printer. Device drivers are typically supplied by the hardware vendor. You've probably had the experience of purchasing a printer or mouse, and being prompted to insert a "setup CD". That disk contains the software and drivers needed to enable your device to communicate with Windows.
Windows also comes with a vast library of drivers. When Windows is installed, it scans your computer for attached devices and tries to match them with drivers from its library. Likewise, when you plug a new device into a Windows system, Windows looks for an appropriate driver in its library. If the right driver for a device is not found, you will be prompted to supply it (typically, on a CD included with your hardware device).
Install the driver and you're done, right? Well, not always. Hardware makers do issue updated drivers occasionally. Whether you install them or not is up to you.
Let's be clear about one thing -- those popups on your screen are ads, not dire warnings from your computer's operating system. They're pushing software that scans your computer, looking for device drivers that MAY need to be updated. Some of these products are outright scams or malware in disguise. Others are semi-legit, but misleading. The phone calls warning about missing or outdated drivers are DEFINITELY scams. See my article [ALERT] Fake Tech Support Scammers Are Calling for more on that.
Do I Really Need This Driver?
Most driver updates are performance enhancers. They may fix minor but irritating glitches in previous versions. Often, these glitches are so minor that they pertain only to particular PC models and do not affect the majority of users.
WINDOWS 11 TIP: Sometimes you'll need to update a device driver if you move to a newer operating system. For example, you might have a printer or scanner that worked fine, but after upgrading to a newer Windows version, now it doesn't work. A quick search for "Windows 11 drivers" turned up stories related to problems with AMD chipset drivers, and availability of new Nvidia video drivers. You may need to update a driver BEFORE you can successfully complete a Windows 11 upgrade. If, during an upgrade attempt, you see 'This PC can't run Windows 11' or encounter error code 0x800F0923, or errors starting with 0xC1900101 or 0x80090011, you may have a driver compatibility problem.
Some other commonly reported post-upgrade problems are no sound, USB ports not working, or problems with screen resolution. A quick trip to the vendor's website should help you find a driver written specifically for that device and operating system. In most cases, you will simply download and run an EXE file to install the new driver, then restart your computer. If that's not the case, look for instructions on the vendor's site.
A few driver updates patch security vulnerabilities that might enable bad guys to infiltrate your computer - if they bothered to take advantage of the vulnerabilities. It's just not worth a hacker's time to write a virus targeting the driver for one of several thousand devices. Beside, security-related driver updates generally find their way automatically onto most users' systems via Windows Update. Some devices will even update themselves directly from the vendor website.
Most people don't bother looking for driver updates unless they are having a problem with a hardware device. After all, it isn't broken, why fix it? By the way, Windows Device Manager is not a reliable indicator of whether your drivers are up to date. Device Manager tells you only whether a driver is working, not whether it's the latest and greatest version.
One "edge case" is when you need an OLDER driver for a piece of equipment. In my article HP Playing Dirty Tricks? I described a situation where my HP inkjet printer was rendered useless by an automatic update from HP. The new driver would not allow me to use third-party refilled ink cartridges, claiming they were “damaged.” I fixed the problem by rolling back that update, and installing an older driver that did not require “new and genuine HP” cartridges.
Watch Out For These Driver Update Gotchas
There are many so-called "driver updaters" or "driver boosters" available online. These programs scan your system's drivers, tell you which ones are out of date, and offer to fetch and install the latest drivers for you. Sounds neat, until you realize there's a fee for all of this. Then you may also realize that you have no way of knowing whether the drivers installed by such services are really the correct drivers, the latest ones, or even if they are malware in disguise.
If you do need an updated device driver, don't just Google the name of your device and download a new driver from the first website that pops up. Aside from Windows Update, the only trustworthy source of drivers is the support website of the hardware manufacturer. If you're not sure, put down the mouse and back away slowly. Make a phone call or send an email to the support department and ask for their advice.
Here's my bottom line on driver updates: If you are having an issue with a printer, scanner, mouse, keyboard or other peripheral device, look for a more recent driver on the maker's site. But updating drivers just for the sake of "keeping current" is not worth the effort, and may do more harm than good.
Do you have something to say about device drivers? Post your comment or question below...
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This article was posted by Bob Rankin on 22 Oct 2021
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Most recent comments on "[TIP] Time to Update Your Drivers?"
Posted by:
Eric Jones
22 Oct 2021
Since installing PCMatic and turning on Supershield, I have not had to worry about drivers. PC Magic checks my drivers every week and updates any that it finds out of date.
Posted by:
Dave Cooley
22 Oct 2021
Thank you SO much for this! When I made the jump from Win 7 to 10 I had lots of issues, most of them driver problems.
Posted by:
Wolf
22 Oct 2021
I use the CCleaner, and it also has a driver updater, which has been very helpful. Thank you for another great article, which presents good facts!
Posted by:
Dmitriy Goltseker
22 Oct 2021
@Wolf Be very Careful with CCleaner's Driver Updater. It has a lot of false positives and on 2 instances downloaded incorrect drivers.
While Bob recommends NOT to update the drivers unless one needs to, I do find Driver Easy to be a reliable product and have used it for many years with high success.
Posted by:
Dmitriy Goltseker
22 Oct 2021
@Wolf Be very Careful with CCleaner's Driver Updater. It has a lot of false positives and on 2 instances downloaded incorrect drivers.
While Bob recommends NOT to update the drivers unless one needs to, I do find Driver Easy to be a reliable product and have used it for many years with high success.
Posted by:
Ernest N. Wilcox Jr.
22 Oct 2021
I agree, Bob. I never update a driver unless I start having a problem with a connected device.
When I build a new machine, I go to the vendor's websites for the most current device driver for each device I add to the new PC, so I do make sure that I am using drivers designed specifically for the devices installed on or connected to the new PC in lieu of the generic drivers Microsoft is so fond of using (Windows 10 and earlier).
For security updates, I get US-CERT email alerts informing me of new issues, and if an alert tells me that the vendor of a device I am using has issued a security update, I go and get the updated driver (again, directly from the vendor).
With Windows 10, I have noted that Windows Update has updated vendor-specific drivers a few times, and that is fine with me. After all, Microsoft knows at least as much as I do about the hardware on my PC, or they have the expertise to detect when a driver update is genuinely warranted. My logic here is that if I am willing to trust Microsoft with providing the Operating System I use, I should also trust them to only update drivers that really need updating, either for security or reliability purposes.
The one driver I update whenever there is an update available is for my NVidia GeForce graphics adapter. I use the NVidia GeForce Experience app to keep my video driver up to date. It tells me when an update is available, and I let it do the update, based on similar logic to what I use with my OS.
Other than the above, I let my OS handle any driver issues, and I think about drivers only when I start having an issue with a connected device, an even then it is a part of a troubleshooting procedure to find out what is going wrong with the device. Device drivers are never the first thing I think about when some component on my PC starts acting up.
I hope this is helpful to someone,
Ernie
Posted by:
Wolf
22 Oct 2021
Thank you Dmitriy Goltseker! I appreciate your good advice. Fortunately, I very seldom use that feature in CCleaner. I will follow the advice of not updating a driver, unless I am really having a problem with a connected device. I also appreciate Ernest's advice. I am glad that we have this forum to continue learning from each other. Thank you!
Posted by:
Steve Kohn
22 Oct 2021
"Windows also comes with a vast library of drivers."
Which reminds me of a question I've long had: is it possible to remove all the many drivers in Windows we're not using?
It would give us back many MB on our hard drive. If we tried to install new hardware, we could download the driver for it just as we sometimes download updated drivers now.
Assuming this is a good idea, how do we make it happen?
Posted by:
Charley
22 Oct 2021
These days Windows update normally takes care of updating your drivers. Microsoft gets the updated drivers from the manufacturers. But sometimes you will may need to update a driver. If you do, get it from the manufacturers website. That is probably the only safe way to do it.
And unless you are having a problem, generally don't update your drivers. As Bob said, most of those driver update utilities are scams or unneeded or can cause problems. There are some that are legitimate but you don't need them.
Also never update your BIOS unless you are having problems. Even when the manufacturer recommends it, I never update my BIOS unless I having a problem or need a feature that is only in the new BIOS.
Posted by:
Jim Shaneman
23 Oct 2021
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Always go to mfgs site for reliable drivers, can check FCC for items not clearly identified
Posted by:
Jay B
23 Oct 2021
I purchased a new Lenovo desktop PC and connected my Samsung Xpress M2825DW laser printer to it. The driver that Windows loaded for it would not allow documents to be printed in duplex mode, which the printer is entirely capable of doing. Going to the HP site (HP purchased Samsung's printer business) to download the software was not much help either. I had to dig out the CD that came with the printer and install the software from it to enable the printer to print double sided documents. Sometimes it is best to use the old software that works.
Posted by:
Bob Stankey
23 Oct 2021
I have an H P Officejet Pro printer, I am unable to use after market cartridges in as you described. How do I find an older driver to change this ? I'm not a tech wise guy, more of a old dinosaur at 75, please keep it simple if you can ! Thanks.
Posted by:
Barry S
24 Oct 2021
I have used Driver Booster free version for many years now. No problems whatsoever.
Posted by:
Norman Rosen
25 Oct 2021
If you run PC Matic on a regular basis for virus security, it will automatically check for driver updates and install them.
Posted by:
Norman Rosen
25 Oct 2021
Speaking of HP, their new laser printers require their cartridge which has a chip. No chip, no print.
Some companies sell cartridges with a chip that they claim will work with the printer. However some reviewers in CR have reported not true.