Your daily technology class with Professor Randy!!

Randy The Tech Professor

April 5, 2012 at 7:59 pm

How To Install Device Drivers For Optimum Computer Performance

Hello everyone,

Every time I install an Operating System, I also have to install several drivers.

A driver is a software program that runs (drives) a hardware device. Think of it as a program that controls a particular type of device that is attached to your computer. There are many hardware devices both inside and outside of a computer and these devices cannot run unless they are “controlled” by a device driver. Here are some examples of  computer hardware devices that will not function without the software that “communicates” with them.

  • printers
  • video adapters
  • network cards
  • sound cards
  • mice, keyboards, USB drives
  • computer storage devices such as hard disk, CD-ROM
  • image scanners
  • digital cameras

Most people know that when you install/reinstall an Operating System you must also install/reinstall the most recent, updated drivers for all of your hardware. But do you know that you must also install those drivers in the correct order for optimum system performance?

Today I would like to show you the correct order of device driver installation. This driver installation order refers to machines running the Windows Operating System.

Install/Reinstall your device drivers in this order:

1) Desktop System Software (DSS) or Notebook System Software (NSS). The DSS and NSS software is not required for Windows Vista/Windows 7 systems.

2) Chipset

3) Video Adapter

4) Network Interface Card (NIC)

5) Audio Adapter

6) Dialup Modem

7) Wireless Network Card

8) Touchpad, Pointer, Trackstick, Mice, and Keyboards

9) Bluetooth Module, Wireless Mobile Broadband Cards, PCMCIA/Smartcard Controller

Professor Randy says: The best hardware device in the world will not run without its proper device driver. Install the correct drivers and install them in the correct order for optimum system efficiency!

Tags: , ,
-
1
  • Gabka
    10:15 am on April 26th, 2012 1

    The motherboard has on it the BIOS (basic input ouutpt system). The BIOS controls all the things like chips, hard drive and video card. It has a very basic video ouutpt so it will work. Once you have software on the hard drive you will see, if you install the right driver, a marked difference in your video quality and options. At first boot you will get a resolution of 1024 x 768 maximum. With drivers you may get TV out, 3D, resolutions much higher than the one above, depending on the quality and abilities of the card.

 

RSS feed for comments on this post | TrackBack URI