How To Check For Driver Updates Windows 7

Drivers are integral to your PC's functionality. For example, your PC'southward graphics card is responsible for everything you see on the screen. The commuter controls the resolution, color depth, video acceleration, game acceleration, and more than. Every graphics card is slightly different, and requires specialized software to control it. That'due south why, if no commuter is installed, Windows uses a "default" driver, and you might become depression resolution and depression performance.

Device Manager showing all network adapter drivers

Windows Device Managing director shows a listing of all drivers running on your arrangement, and whether something is wrong with any of them.

You don't demand to call up about device drivers very oftentimes, as Windows mostly downloads, installs, and updates them. But Windows default drivers are not always ideal -- in fact, they can be extremely outdated.

So if your hardware isn't automatically recognised, the device crashes, or if you encounter problems, you lot may need to know how to update the drivers yourself.

Follow our step-by-step instructions beneath to learn how to update your device drivers on Windows. And don't forget, there'due south also a completely automated way to update your drivers.

Installing and updating drivers manually

Many hardware makers offer downloads for their PCs, components (see also our sound card driver update guide and graphics cards commuter update guide), and peripherals (scanners, printers).

The manufacturer may include a neat installer that walks you through the download and launch processes. In this case, click here to get direct to the instructions. Some drivers come in the class of athenaeum, such every bit Zilch or RAR. If that'southward so, follow these instructions:

How to update drivers on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 manually (device manager)

First, install an extracting utility such equally WinRAR.
Go to the manufacturer's site to observe the driver yous want to update. To help you see the procedure, for the balance of this example I updated an old Intel Iris Hd 520 (GPU) driver for my Surface Book.
On the hardware maker's site -- here, Intel'due south Drivers Site -- observe the latest version for your device. Annotation that oftentimes you need to know the verbal model number likewise as which Windows operating system you have (Windows 7, 8, 10) and which architecture (32-Bit/x86 or 64-Fleck/x64).

Some third party sites have access to fifty-fifty newer drivers. Ane good and reputable site is LaptopVideo2Go for anything to do with GPUs, sound, network, and chipset drivers. While a bit geeky (you need to know exactly what graphics chipset and generation you lot have), you frequently discover drivers just a few days old.
Download the driver. It probably is stored in an archived format, such every bit Goose egg or RAR. Double-click on information technology to let it machine-excerpt or correct-click on the file and select Extract Here.
Y'all probably now probable see a binder with a lot of cryptic file names, like this one:

If y'all're lucky, 1 of those files is called Setup or Install, which makes your life piece of cake. But it's just as likely that an installation tool isn't included. In that case, yous need to open Device Manager and apply information technology to install the driver manually.

Important: Retrieve the folder where y'all downloaded these files. For example, C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\Downloads
Open Device Manager past right-clicking on the Windows orb (Outset push) in the lower chore bar and selecting Device Managing director. You tin can also open Device Manager by clicking the Windows key and R at the same time and typing in the following:

Choose OK.
Next, search for the category of device to update. In our case, that'due south the Display adapters category. Expand information technology and select the driver to refresh:
Double-click on that entry and select the Drivers tab. Choose the Update drivers push button, then choose the Browse push to notice your driver update files.

Now get to the binder of the installed drivers.
Click the OK button and then click on Next.
Washed! Hopefully the new driver gives you more than features, better performance, and fewer bugs.

How to update drivers on Windows 7 and Windows eight, 10 using an installer

A common mode to update a driver for Windows is to use an installer program supplied past the manufacturer. These installers either sit inside a compressed folder (as yous see higher up in the earlier instance) or are provided as one single file.

In most cases, the update is equally simple as running that plan. Let's run through the setup procedure using an AMD Radeon 460 Pro graphics carte.

Download the device driver and open your download folder
Observe the setup file y'all downloaded, and click to launch information technology:
All you need to do is click on Next, Yes, and Install buttons. In most cases, you need to reboot your car after the installation.
Done!

Updating individual drivers with Windows Device Manager

In some cases, Windows Update can install drivers that aren't available elsewhere. Anything that has gone through the Microsoft certification procedure has been tested, and so you tin can confidently trust the commuter files it updates.

To apply Windows Update to install drivers on Windows 7 or Windows 8:

Click on Start and and so go to Control Panel.
Go to Organisation and Security; select Windows Update.
Next, go to the list of optional updates. If you find some hardware driver updates, install them!

To Use Windows Update to install drivers on Windows ten:

Click on the Outset button and and so on the little cog.
This opens the Settings awarding.
Click on Update & security which brings you to the Windows Update department.
Click on Check for Updates and hope that it installs updates automatically.

If that process doesn't find anything, in that location'south a chance that you can still observe a device driver using the "Automatic" detection method of Device Driver. To practise that, open up upwardly Device Manager by clicking on the Windows fundamental and R at the same time and typing in devmgmt.msc.

Opening Device Manager

Get to the driver to update and double-click on information technology, just as you did in the initial instructions. Just instead of manually looking for an updater file, go to the Drivers awarding, choose the Update Commuter push button, and select Search automatically for updated commuter software.

Automatic search for Windows drivers

How to update drivers automatically

There are alternatives in the form of a professional driver updater software that comes with a database of drivers (hundreds of thousands of them), checks your system for former drivers, and installs the new ones automatically.

Y'all can find, download, and update drivers automatically with Avast Driver Updater. It checks your entire system for old drivers, selects the best upgrades, and installs them for yous -- easily and automatically.

Why practise I accept outdated drivers on my Windows computer?

Just equally with any slice of software, drivers become outdated over time. Their makers release newer versions that fix bugs or add together new features.

There are multiple reasons for outdated drivers on your PC. Among them:

Windows itself doesn't provide updates to all drivers. Hardware makers take to get through a rigorous credence process before Microsoft includes the driver in Windows Update. As a result, information technology could take months for a driver to make it on your device -- and past the fourth dimension it does, the manufacturer has released newer versions.
Your PC or component came with old drivers, with no updater is in place. For case, my Surface Book that includes a graphics chip dating from 2017 runs on drivers from mid-2017. The version number is 23.20.sixteen.4842, when in fact the latest drivers (as of February 2019) take the version number 26.20.100.6566.

When should I update a driver?

Because drivers run crucial parts of a estimator, any failure makes the system unstable. As a effect, drivers often are the culprit for when lots of things go wrong. Cheque for new drivers if:

You experience problems you can't explain otherwise. Amid them might be stuttering audio or no sound, Wi-Fi and connectedness issues, games not running or running extremely slowly, and random system crashes.
Devices won't work at all. For example, when your USB ports don't work, you demand to update your USB drivers.
When you see an exclamation mark in your Device Manager. This means that Windows knows something is incorrect. To expect in Windows 7 and ten: Hold the WIN-KEY + R, blazon in devmgmt.msc, hit Enter to open Device Director, and wait for entries with an exclamation mark like this ane:

Device Manager showing problems with the graphics card

This shows that there'south something wrong with the device. You should probably update it or install the proper drivers.

To boost PC performance. Some drivers, particularly chipset and graphics drivers, may brand your figurer run faster. However, you should probably look for ways to amend your PC'due south performance through other means or by using a product like Avast Cleanup.