PC Device Drivers And Their Importance

A driver is a piece of software which helps your computer communicate with the various different devices or hardware installed on your system. Basically, without them, you will not be able to use any of the hardware you connect to your computer. Every piece of hardware in your computer needs a driver in order to function properly.

In addition to offering correct funcionality, drivers allow various additional features and configuration menus when you install new drivers. Earlier, every hardware component you purchased came with a disk which included its driver which needed to be installed separately. While this may still be true in some instances today, most modern operating systems have drivers for traditional components like memory sticks, printers, etc. There are certain digital cameras which may also be recognized without the need of a separate hardware driver.

Sometimes, components which have been used for years may require new drivers to work with a new operating system. Bugs or errors may also force manufacturers to release updates for their hardware. A software glitch or virus might corrupt existing drivers too. In many cases, drivers come with your operating system or can be found in the Windows Update section of the Control Panel.

If you can’t find the drivers you need here, you can download the required drivers from the internet. And as mentioned above, you can find the drivers on the installation discs. If that doesn’t work, visit the manufacturer’s website as a last resort where you will be able to download oficial drivers.

How it works

Device drivers are programmed with the task of translating user requests for hardware. Despite a large number of features being coded into an application, it doesn’t contain the procedures to let it relay requests to hardware. These requests are usually in the form of codes from the programming language used to create the software. Drivers convert user requests into codes or machine language which is comprehensible to the hardware. The result here is the implementation of the request by the hardware device. There’s a programming language known as Assembly which has the ability to tap directly into the functionality of any device.

But, it isn’t compatible with the complexity or design needed by certain high-end applications. One example of this activity is when users try playing music files on third party applications. The media application will relay instructions using the audio driver and the user can subsequently hear the music through their headphones or speakers. Hardware also needs device drivers if users are to manipulate functionality. Apart from using third party programs for this, users can change the configurations and settings of hardware devices with their drivers. This is the case as far as display and audio devices are concerned.

Importance

It is very important for you to install the right device drivers which have to be installed before users or related applications can manipulate hardware devices and use their features or functions. The below factors always need to be considered when installing drivers for a hardware device:

• The operating system which is being used.

• The manufacturer of the device.

• The make or model of the hardware component.
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