by Greg Schwartz

Created on: March 11, 2010

A device driver is a piece of software that allows your operating system (and its applications) to communicate with specific hardware that is connected to the computer (either through a cable, or connected wirelessly).  Every device attached to your computer - and even some of the components inside it - require device drivers to function correctly.

Some device drivers come packaged with your operating system, depending on which operating system and which version it is.  If you buy a brand new desktop computer, it will most likely already have a driver installed for the hard drive, monitor, and network card.  Even if the computer doesn't come with a mouse or keyboard, you'll probably find generic drivers installed for both of those devices as well.

Any time you buy a new device, it should come with a driver - usually located on a CD-ROM.  If for some reason the CD-ROM wasn't included (such as with used devices) you can almost always find the driver on the manufacturer's web site and download it for free.

There is a different device driver for virtually every different piece of hardware.  To view all of the device drivers installed on your computer, open Device Manager in any version of Windows.  You'll see a list of devices such as the network adapter, keyboard, and any speakers or headphones.  Each device listed in Device Manager has a driver installed.  You can view and change these drivers by going into the device's properties.

Manufacturers occasionally update device drivers, usually either to fix a problem with the device's performance or its compatibility, or to add features or functions.  You don't usually need to stay abreast of current device drivers, as long as the driver you have installed is working fine.  The old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" definitely applies here.

Without a device driver, your computer wouldn't know how to talk to each of the devices installed on it, rendering them useless.  Some devices can be used with generic drivers, but these drivers lack functionality and sometimes cause the device to act erratically.

For example, if you buy a brand new wireless five-button mouse, but you don't install the driver that came with it, your computer will try to communicate with the mouse using its generic mouse driver.  While you'll probably be able to use the mouse to move the pointer, scroll, and click, there's a good chance you won't be able to use the extra three buttons.  (If clicking them does anything at all, it's most likely not the intended function.)  This situation applies to keyboards as well - often, someone will buy a new keyboard with a Sleep key, volume buttons, or other added features, but if the user doesn't install the correct keyboard driver, those extra keys will be useless.

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