56 Advanced Troubleshooting
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Drivers

What Is a Driver?

A driver is a program that controls a device such as a printer, mouse, or
keyboard. All device s require a driver pr ogram.
A driver acts like a translator between the device and the programs that use
the device. Each device has its own set of specialized commands that only
its driver recognizes.
Many drivers such as the keyboard driver come with your Microsoft®
Windows ® operating system. You may need to install drivers if:
• You upgrade your operating system.
• You reinstall your operating system.
• You connect or install a new device.
If you experience a problem with any device, perform the steps in the
following sections to identify whether the driver is the source of your
problem and to update the driver, if necessary.

Identifying Drivers

1Click the Start button and click Control Panel.
2In the Control Panel window, under Pick a Category, click
Performance and Maintenance.
3In the Performance and Maintenance window, click System.
4In the System Properties screen, click the Hardware tab.
5Click Device Manager.
6In the Device Manager window, scroll down the list to see if any device
has an exclamation point (a yellow circle with a [!]) on the device icon.
If an exclamation point is next to the device name, you may need to
reinstall the driver or install a new driver.