Everyone who works with a Windows-based PC knows (or should know) about “Patch Tuesday.” Patch Tuesday is the second-Tuesday-of-the-month Microsoft “event” that features security, OS and driver updates to the Windows operating system. Patch Tuesday represents Microsoft’s efforts to cut down on the number of automatic updates users must endure when they turn on their computers. Serious … and I mean really serious… fixes are distributed when they’re available and are rarely, if ever, held for Patch Tuesday.

Will Adobe Sign Up For Patch Tuesday?

Patch Tuesday releases include security updates, driver updates and patches to the operating system that have not been deemed a flat-out, “all-hands-on-deck” emergency. The system has worked relatively well since it was introduced by Microsoft in 2003. Now Adobe says that it may move to monthly product and security updates.

Several prominent attacks against Windows Vista and Windows 7 have been launched using Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader, and users and vendors alike are pressuring Adobe to pay more attention to product vulnerabilities and to address potential exploits faster. Currently, Adobe issues product updates once per quarter. This leaves malware designers significant time to discover and develop attacks using the company’s products.

Another problem for Windows users is that Windows Update does not automatically download and install Adobe product updates. Instead, Windows Update handles only new third-party driver releases. Adobe says it plans to adopt Microsoft’s Security Center Update Publisher (SCUP) by the end of 2010. This move will enable Adobe to distribute product updates to Windows users more quickly and effectively.

Currently, Adobe doesn’t post its most recent product updates on the company’s Web site. Instead, users download an update, then use the Adobe Updater tool to patch the version of the software they’ve just downloaded. One drawback of this approach is that it relies on users to update the product. If users don’t seek out the updates, or don’t allow automatic updates on their computers, the unpatched, out-of-date product(s) will remain.

Since Adobe products are becoming the vector of choice for certain types of attacks against Windows, expect Microsoft to notch up the pressure on Adobe to move to a more regular system of patching, adopt more efficient methods of updating products, and to design products with tighter security controls in mind.

Photo Credit: emma.kate, via Flickr

Seagate announced last month that it will be bringing a new superfast hard disk designed for laptops to market in August. The Momentus XT drive will store up to 500 GB and is a combination flash-traditional drive. Hybrid drives were introduced in 2007, but the road to their promised performance hasn’t been smooth. In addition, Seagate says that it has corrected initial design issues to correct driver problems that prevented the drives from working properly with Windows Vista without additional help.

Hybrid Drives Can Offer Both Performance And Power Saving

One of the most critical concerns with any kind of laptop hardware is power consumption. Because laptops work primarily on batteries, the amount of power that each device consumes has a direct bearing on the performance of the system. As a result, manufacturers attempt to reduce power consumption as much as possible for devices designed for use in laptops.

That design decision is not without cost. Laptops frequently work with older processors, older memories, older displays and older peripherals that consume less power. Not having the latest processors means that laptops perform some tasks more slowly than their conventional desktop counterparts.

Flash drive technology is attractive for laptop designs because it consumes less energy than mechanical drives do, and lacks moving parts. By eliminating moving parts, laptops become more reliable and more road-worthy. The trade-off? Not-so-good performance.

With the new hybrid drives from Seagate, Windows 7 and Windows Vista performance has been properly addressed and Seagate says that the new drives willl operate seamlessly with not only Windows 7 and Windows Vista, but also with laptops that run the Mac OS and Linux as well.

Improved performance and improved Windows drivers aren’t the only things users can expect from the new Momentus XT drives. Seagate says that it will offer the drives as upgrades for a new Republic of Gamers G73Jh notebook starting at just $113.

If the hybrid drive and its drivers deliver genuinely improved performance, better integration with Windows 7 and Windows Vista and reduce the cost to just over $100 for 500GB of laptop storage space, Seagate will have a hit on its hands. Although the new drives are being marketed to the laptop gamers, you can bet that if the drives perform well, you’ll be seeing them in non-gaming applications in the not-too-distant future.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Seagate

If you notice that you’re suddenly having problems with your computer, especially when you connect with a piece of hardware that’s attached to your computer, you could be experiencing a Windows driver problem.

Driver Problems Come In Many Shapes And Sizes

Drivers are files, so they’re subject to the same limitations that other files are. They can get corrupted, misplaced or deleted. When this happens, the computer is unable to access the related hardware properly. A corrupted driver may partially function, which will cause your hardware (or your computer) to behave erratically when you try to use the device. In other cases, the corrupted driver won’t work at all, meaning that you have no access to your device.

Driver problems can also occur when you install system updates that overwrite a portion of the driver software, or that don’t interact properly with your old driver. In this case, the driver usually stops functioning altogether. Attempts to access the driver can cause the computer to freeze or crash.

Last but not least, manufacturers may issue new drivers to correct problems with an existing driver, enable new functions, or improve compatibility with the operating system. You may not notice any behavior problems with your device or computer, but you won’t have the benefit of the updates, either.

In the distant past, users were responsible for locating, downloading and installing the correct driver for their hardware. Windows came with a few “generic” drivers for required hardware like displays, mice and keyboards. More recently, Windows has been redesigned to locate and install driver updates, and comes with a large collection of drivers.

Unfortunately, these additions don’t reduce the amount of time it takes to do driver maintenance. Sometimes, Windows doesn’t have the updated driver, or doesn’t know about it. Windows also occasionally downloads and installs the wrong driver for your hardware. (This can cause a number of problems for you, including functions that don’t work or devices that are inaccessible.)

When this happens, you can plan to spend extra time troubleshooting the problem, locating the correct driver, uninstalling the wrong driver, and installing the correct driver. Doing driver maintenance is an unpleasant prospect, to say the least.

I have turned all of my driver maintenance tasks over to Driver Detective. Driver Detective locates, downloads, installs and backs up the correct driver for your device. Driver Detective also monitors the operation of your drivers and replaces drivers that have gotten corrupted or gone missing. Once Driver Detective is configured, you don’t have to do anything except enjoy working on a well-maintained computer.

Photo Credit: jaqian, via Flickr

Looking for Windows drivers can be about as fun as looking for your car keys when you’re late for work. It can also seem a lot like searching the desert for water. If you’re lucky, you might find it, and if you fail, you may be in big trouble.

Drivers Abound, Just Not Always In The Right Places

Windows drivers are available by the millions. That’s right; over time, there have been literally millions of hardware drivers written for the Windows operating system. That’s because there have been millions of peripherals designed to work with windows. Everything, from printers to keyboards to specialized hardware, requires a driver to allow the hardware to communicate with the computer.

Drivers don’t just happen and Microsoft isn’t responsible for writing drivers; hardware manufacturers are. When hardware manufacturers don’t write updated drivers, they’re essentially walking away from one of their products. Without a driver, the hardware won’t work properly, if at all. Older drivers might suffice, but chances are good that when an operating system changes radically – like the difference between Windows XP and Windows 7 is – there’s a good bet that a new driver is in order.

There’s no income involved for the manufacturer in writing a new driver for old hardware. Drivers are given away at no cost. Ongoing driver support represents the commitment a company makes to a hardware product, as well as an acknowledgment by the company that hardware can function admirably well past the manufacturer’s desire to continue supporting it.

Many peripheral manufacturers took a flyer on writing drivers for Vista, largely because Vista wasn’t a big commercial success. That approach is now causing problems for consumers who want to upgrade to Windows 7, and who still want to use their older hardware. Many manufacturers haven’t done the legwork needed to write a Vista driver, and the absence of a Vista driver significantly lessens the chance that a Windows 7 driver will be forthcoming.

For its part, Microsoft attempted to head off this problem by including a virtualization mode in Windows 7 that will enable the computer to run Windows XP. In virtual XP mode, the old XP drivers will still work. Unfortunately, the computer’s BIOS must support virtualization – a trick that many aging computers don’t.

If you’ve got an older piece of hardware that you don’t want to – or can’t – replace, and your computer can run Windows XP virtually, you can still access your older hardware and enjoy the benefits of Windows 7. (Just not simultaneously.)

Photo Credit: Andrew Stawarz, via Flickr