If you’ve been paying attention, you know that auto racing is my passion. I know it seems that technology must be more exciting and fulfilling, but, trust me, it’s not. It does, however, pay the bills, so that makes it rewarding enough. Growing up, I wanted to be a full-time race car driver. While I’ve been blessed enough to live my dreams and race for the last dozen years, I’m happy to have a “fallback plan” that I’m good at, and enjoy my hobby at the track at the same time. Ask my wife, and she’ll tell you that there’s constant conversation about drivers at our house. While much of the talk is centered around those brave (some might say stupid) souls that hurl themselves at high rates of speed in circles, device drivers take up a good portion of the discussion as well. And as well they should, because without them, your computer would never get to take the green flag!
To make a computer function as intended requires both software and hardware. Hardware includes the physical components that make up the computer system, and software is the term for the programs that allow the computer to complete the operations asked for by the user. Examples of hardware are the keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Microsoft Word is an example of software. Obviously, you can’t have one without the other. How then do device drivers come into play? Let’s turn to Wikipedia for the definition: “A device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and other computer programs to access hardware functions without needing to know precise details of the hardware being used.” Here’s Wikipedia again on the purpose of a driver: “The main purpose of device drivers is to provide abstraction by acting as a translator between a hardware device and the applications or operating systems that use it. Programmers can write the higher-level application code independently of whatever specific hardware the end-user is using.”
So, what does all this mean? Essentially, a device driver allows your computer and its operating system (Windows 10, for instance) to communicate with the new HP printer you just purchased. Without a driver, there’s no way your computer would know that there’s legal-sized paper in tray two, or that you’d prefer to print in black and white. Without a device driver for the high-end graphics card your gamer grandson just installed, the colors would appear to be from the 1980s, and graphics would have jagged edges. This is totally unacceptable when you’re trying to take over the world or win the next race. What other devices rely on drivers to operate? For starters: network cards, sound cards, USB devices, hard drives, optical (CD/DVD) drives, scanners, and cameras, just to name a few. Most device drivers for internal components are pre-installed by the computer’s manufacturer, but when new devices or components are added, you’ll need to install the applicable driver. Sometimes, this happens automatically. If you’ve ever seen a message pop up on your computer when you’ve plugged in a new device for the first time stating that the computer is “Installing new hardware”, that means that the operating system is searching for the appropriate driver so you can use this device to its fullest.
Periodically, hardware manufacturers release new drivers for your components. Often, these drivers are made available through Windows Update. Many people can’t install these new drivers fast enough, so they can experience new features, or possibly fix any issues they’ve been having. Typically, I subscribe to the theory of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” meaning, don’t install new drivers if you aren’t currently having problems with your device. If you ever need to update your drivers, you can simply search on the Internet for the product in question. Type something like, “Canon MG5400 Windows 8 driver” and look for a result that comes directly from Canon, or whichever manufacturer you’re seeking. Never download a driver from anywhere other than the manufacturer itself, and never install a program that scans your computer’s components for updated drivers. Malware aplenty comes from programs such as these! Also, occasionally a STOP error will appear on your monitor. Sometimes, the screen suddenly turns blue and displays white text. We I.T. people refer to that as the “Blue Screen of Death”. It doesn’t necessarily mean impending death of your computer, but it’s usually related to a driver failure.
Just as a race car would be useless without a driver, so too would your computer. Device drivers serve a very important function, as they act as the go-between of software and hardware. Drivers truly start your computer so you can make things happen!