Computers and Drivers

If you are anything like me, you give no thought to your computer, until something goes wrong. As long as everything is working, I really don't think about software or hardware; I just think about getting my work done. However, there comes a time when you may go to use your printer, or go to scan a document, and nothing happens. The software has been updated and everything is connected properly, so what else can you check? You may want to look into making sure that the drivers are up-to-date.

You may be asking what exactly are drivers and you would not be alone. Drivers are software programs which allow the computer to communicate with the hardware. Without the drivers, your computer would not be able to tell the printer from the mouse, thus nothing would be able to function. Although we are all pretty good at keeping our software updated, we may tend to forget about the hardworking yet, often overlooked, workhorse of the computer...the driver.

To give you an example, several months ago my computer stopped talking to my printer. After making sure all the cables were connected, I did some research on the Internet and I discovered that checking for hp drivers and getting an update, may solve the problem. I'm happy to say that it did solve the problem and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and move forward with my work.

Now, there is a place to go that has the drivers you need. You no longer have to scramble all over the Internet trying to find a particular driver for a particular device; they have all been brought together in one place. Let’s say that you have a device that requires lexmark drivers, you can go to this site and find the driver that you need. However, make sure that you get the correct driver for your device. To find out what you need (using Windows XP, in this example), go to My Computer and click the view system information link. Next, click hardware and look for the device in question. In this case, let’s say you were having mouse problems. Click on the mice and other pointing devices link and it will tell you what type of mouse you are using. You then match the correct driver to the mouse. I hope that this information helps point you in the right direction to solve the problem.