Inexperienced computer users commonly suffer problems on the installation of the right device drivers for their machines. Since they are not familiar with how device drivers work for a specific platform or why it is necessary to install only those that are compatible with the driver, this often leads to complications hindering the functionality of the system.
A solution to this problem is the use of third-party applications bundled with hardware programs called driver scanners. A driver scanner has the following characteristics/functions:
1. Driver scanners use the active Internet connection on the user's machine to connect to the remote server of the hardware manufacturer. The application will retrieve the list of drivers for the installed hardware and will automatically download and launch without requiring user input.
2. Other driver scanners show users the list of device-compatible drivers and give them the choice to choose a specific driver to download for their hardware. These are often categorized according to version, the operating system used, functionality, patches, bug fixes, and so on.
3. Driver scanners sports an easy-to-understand, navigable GUI (Graphical User Interface) that can allow the user to set configurations for scanning the devices in their system and setting the parameters for downloading and installing the said program.
Driver scanners are often bundled with the hardware device. Some can be downloaded from the Internet as an add-on program to support the functionality of the device according to the platform used. Manufacturer-based driver scanners are often attributed to the following devices:
• Display Adapters (Video Cards)
• Printers
• Scanners
• Chipset (for on-board peripherals)
There are driver scanners individually developed to cover all these devices. These can be downloaded from the Internet for free, though the most advisable ones are those from credible software companies requiring a license to use the said application. Freeware driver scanners are mostly attributed to malware infections as claimed by a few users.
Third-party driver scanners scour the machine for installed hardware. After scanning, it will retrieve the ID for each device and subsequently connect to a remote server in order to search for compatible drivers and applications for it. These programs will look for drivers compatible with the user’s operating system.
After the search, the driver scanner application will prompt the user of any updated driver it found and will prompt the user for installation. The installation process may require further verification, like agreeing to the license agreement, configurations and application settings, location for the driver installation, and so on.
A tool which I personally recommend to anyone, guru or newbie, and even intermediates is DriverScanner by Uniblue. This piece of software updates your drivers automatically without you having to worry if you misplaced your HP scanner's CD or the Creative sound card's driver. DriverScanner as the name implies makes a free driver scan of your existing drivers against their extensive list of thousands of drivers fresh from the device manufacturer's ovens in order to check for outdated drivers, lets you back your driver up in case some conflict occurs so that you can restore the previous functioning firmware with ease and quickly update them to the latest version with the touch of a button. Updating your device drivers helps the perfomance of your computer Now that's what I call silver service!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment