Practice you know if your drivers need updating? Are you suffering unexplained computer problems? And practise you know how to update drivers in Windows 10?

A commuter is a software that communicates with your hardware to make it work with your operating system. If you're having organisation problem, like a printer not working or games crashing, then it might be indicative that your drivers demand updating.

Drivers are available for your video card, audio, motherboard, and much more. Notwithstanding, y'all don't always need to update your drivers for the sake of it. If everything is working well on your system, and then you might exist meliorate off leaving them well alone. If they do need updating, though, we've rounded up a number of different methods to help you.

Be sure to head to the comments section afterward to let us know what methods y'all use to update your outdated drivers.

Check Your Drivers

While y'all'll have drivers installed on your organization, you may not know precisely what they are or what version you're using.

If you're running anything from Windows XP to Windows 8, you tin can use the Control Prompt to discover this information. PressWindows key + Tenand clickCommand Prompt. Type driverquery and striking Enter to get a list of every commuter installed on your system and when that driver was published.

driverquery

You can also blazon driverquery > commuter.txt to export all that information into a handy text file. The file will save into wherever your control prompt path is set to. So in my example to a higher place, that'd exist C:\Users\Joe.

It's very important to deport in mind that the date given is not when you last updated the commuter, it's the date the driver you're using was published. Every bit such, although a driver might have a Link Date of some years back, it isn't necessarily true that information technology needs updating.

However, this method doesn't work properly on Windows 10. The information provided is either missing or inaccurate. As such, use the gratuitous utility DriverView instead.

This will give you all sorts of data virtually your drivers, similar the version number, manufacturer, installation engagement, and more. You can double-click a commuter on the listing to see the information in a single view.

1. Update Drivers Straight From Microsoft

Windows volition automatically update your drivers via Windows Update. This is usually safe and reliable because the drivers have been verified and should merely be delivered to your system if they're known to be compatible. Windows Update runs in the background and you lot'll merely detect it when it requires yous to restart your organisation.

Windows 10 is far more pushy with updates than previous versions of the operating system. Yet, that's more often than not a adept thing, since you can set it and forget about it, and information technology'south usually intelligent enough to know when not to provide a driver update since y'all don't always need the near recent version.

To perform a Windows Update, printing Windows key + I to open Settings and go to Update & Security > Windows Update > Cheque for updates.

You can disable automatic driver updates if you want, though it isn't recommended by Microsoft. To practice then, perform a arrangement search for device installation settings and select the relevant result.

If you don't want automated updates provided through Windows Update, select No (your device might non piece of work every bit expected) and click Relieve Changes.

You lot can always opposite the modify by returning to this window and selecting Yeah (recommended) instead.

Cheque out our guide on taking back control over driver updates in Windows 10 for more advice.

two. Update Drivers Via Device Manager

You can as well check all your devices and view their drivers using the Device Manager. To open information technology, press Windows key + X and click Device Manager.

The Device Managing director will show all your organisation components, similar your disk drives, display adapters, processors, and more. Double click a category to expand information technology and see the devices within.

To see driver information, correct click a device, click Properties, and switch to the Commuter tab. This displays the engagement the driver was published, its version number, and other information.

To bank check for a driver update, click Update Driver. Select Search automatically for updated driver software and Windows volition search your estimator and the spider web for the latest software. This is what information technology does through Windows Update anyway, merely this is a good method to double bank check for a specific component. If an update is establish, follow the sorcerer to install it.

You tin also Browse my figurer for driver software, which we'll cover in the manual update section below.

3. Update Drivers Manually From The Manufacturer

You can also go to the manufacturer of your device and update your drivers through them. If you desire to download drivers manually and then information technology's highly advisable to go straight to the source. This style you lot'll ensure the download is upwards-to-date and safe.

You can utilise the information provided through the "driverquery" command, DriverView utility or Device Manager to detect out what drivers you have and who manufactures them. Head to their website and await for their commuter section (information technology might be under a Back up heading). Some providers, like AMD and NVIDIA, will have tools that can scan your organisation and detect what driver you need if you're unsure.

amd drivers

Once downloaded, most of the drivers will have executables that can be opened and they'll update what's necessary. If not, head dorsum to the Device Manager, correct-click the device, select Update driver, and click Browse my figurer for commuter software. Point the wizard to the location of your downloaded file.

If yous bought the physical estimator component itself then y'all may detect that it came with a CD that includes drivers. Exist slightly wary of these considering unless they connect to the cyberspace then there'due south a possibility they'll be outdated. The same applies to CDs that come with pre-built machines.

Avoid Third-Party Software

There's a lot of 3rd-political party software out at that place that will claim to scan your system and update all the drivers in i go. Exercise non apply them. The methods listed to a higher place are safe. I've yet to find any tertiary-political party utilities that I'd consider truly reputable and that won't bundle adware alongside, install outdated drivers, or become them from dubious sources.

most-famous-viruses-impact

Besides, your drivers shouldn't need updating that often anyhow. The minor amount of fourth dimension it takes to perform the above methods are much more than preferable than risking a 3rd-party tool that could potentially muck your organization up.

Go on Your Calculator Healthy

You may find that all your drivers are already up-to-date if you've never fiddled with your arrangement settings, thanks to Windows Update. And if everything is working well then you might exist meliorate off non updating them at all. It's usually things similar graphics cards, which receive constant patches to back up recent games, that need updating the most.

Remember, always download your drivers from reputable sources (direct from the manufacturer if possible). Practise not install any which weren't fabricated specifically for your devices.

For more guidance, check out our advice on how to easily remove old drivers from Windows.

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Joe Keeley (863 Articles Published)

Joe was born with a keyboard in his hands and immediately started writing near technology. He has a BA (Hons) in Business and is now a total-time freelance writer who enjoys making tech uncomplicated for everyone.

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