Last week, Microsoft said that its research shows that nearly half of all Windows 7 installations are the company’s 64-bit version of the OS. That’s up from just 11% for Windows Vista installations and less than 1% of Windows XP installations. What’s the reason for the shift? The cost of compatible hardware, the cost of RAM, and the availability of 64-bit drivers are being credited for enticing users to make the switch.

What Makes The 64-Bit Version Of Windows Different?

Is there a substantial difference between the performance of a 32-bit system and a 64-bit system? The short answer is yes. The big advantage of the 64-bit system is that it can address more RAM. The more RAM you have available, the faster your computer can work (to a point) and the more simultaneous tasks it can manage (to a point). You may also benefit from having a 64-bit system if you use very computation-intense software, like engineering design software, graphic software, or gaming software.

The downside of running a 64-bit system is that you need to have 64-bit drivers for your hardware. If the manufacturer of a piece of hardware makes a 64-bit version of the driver you need, you’re in luck. Carry on!

On the other hand, if the manufacturer of a piece of hardware has made only a 32-bit driver, you’re pretty much out of luck. 32-bit and 64-bit drivers aren’t interchangeable. They’re not even a little bit compatible, either. 32-bit is 32-bit and 64-bit is 64-bit, and “never the twain shall meet,” so to speak. Microsoft does maintain a compatibility list, which has a comprehensive (though probably not exhaustive) list of 64-bit compatible devices. You can find this list at The Windows 7 Compatibility Center.

The site is divided into two tabs: Software and Hardware. The Software tab contains major functions (e.g., gaming, communications, graphics and printing, etc), so you may have to do a bit of guesswork to figure out how Microsoft views the software you’re looking for. Each major group also has a dropdown menu that activates when you “mouse over” the category heading.
The hardware tab, which is where you’d be looking for device drivers, is divided into major device types. You can also search the site using keywords, and limiting your text searches to hardware or software. You can also filter your search results by system type (64-bit or32-bit), and manufacturer. Microsoft even has some information on devices that are not currently 64-bit compatible, but will have a 64-bit driver in the near future. If your device isn’t on the list and Microsoft has no information about the device’s future 64-bit status, check with the manufacturer to see if they have a 64-bit driver, or if a 64-bit driver is in the works.

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As a professional PC technician, I have to admit that I’ve spent hours searching for, downloading, installing and managing Windows drivers. I also have to say that I have better things to do with my time. Looking for Windows drivers isn’t fun. Sure, Windows says it can find drivers, and in some cases, that’s true. In many other cases, however, the search for a new driver begins and ends with the user rather than the OS.

Manufacturers Don’t Always Come Through

Hardware manufacturers are ultimately responsible for providing hardware drivers, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get much satisfaction from them. Manufacturers are notorious for dropping support for old (and not-so-old) devices, simply by not issuing new drivers for their existing hardware.

It’s frustrating for the user, but this is the manufacturers’ way of prodding users to buy newer hardware, even when the old hardware is working just fine. Windows 7 users may find themselves in a particular bind. They’ve upgraded their OS based on the positive reports from other users, only to discover that their hardware has been deemed “obsolete” by the manufacturer. Likewise, a manufacturer may never have issued a Vista driver based on the users’ “strong preferences for Windows XP.” The unavailability of a Vista driver might just be the best predictor of whether or not your device ends up on the long, slippery slope to oblivion. If a manufacturer hasn’t made a Vista driver, there’s a great chance that you won’t be seeing a Windows 7 driver, either.

You may still be able to find Windows drivers that will talk to your hardware, but the real value of having the right driver is that all of the device’s “built-in functions” will work. Without the correct driver, the device may have limited operating capabilities, or may not work at all.

If you’ve upgraded to Windows 7 and you can’t find a driver for your device inside the OS, the first place to check is with the device manufacturer. Some manufacturers have already identified the devices they support (or plan to support), so verify that your device is on the supported list.

If your device isn’t on the supported list for Windows 7, check the vendor’s site to see if they’ve issued a device driver for Vista. The Vista OS is remarkably compatible with Windows 7 in many areas, including hardware drivers. A Vista driver may work just fine with your Window 7 installation. Failing that, there is a possibility that a Windows XP driver will work. (You’ll need to watch out for 32-bit v 64-bit versions.) The XP driver is far less likely to be a perfect fit, though.

You can always do what I do, which is rely on Driver Detective to locate, download, install and manage drivers. It saves me a great deal of time, which makes Driver Detective worth its weight in gold.

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If you’ve been using Windows computers for awhile, you know that one of the things you need to do regularly is install updated Windows drivers. You may wonder why your drivers require updating, especially if things are working as they should be. Hardware manufacturers update their drivers primarily for two or three reasons.

Looking Out For Updated Drivers

Updated drivers may be required if Microsoft updates its operating system. I’m not talking about the major upgrades, although updated drivers are almost certainly a by-product of those. I’m talking about the patches that Microsoft puts out now and again. Sometimes, in fixing one thing, the code for an existing driver needs to be rewritten or changed. You may find that after installing an update, a certain piece of hardware no longer works properly. An updated driver may take care of the problem.

Sometimes, security “holes” are discovered that would allow a remote user to take advantage of your computer, install malware or infect your computer with a virus. Updating the driver may take care of a security hole, or make your peripheral devices less vulnerable to this type of attack.

Third, software drivers from the manufacturer sometimes contain errors that the manufacturer wants to correct. In this case, the manufacturer will put out an updated driver to replace an existing one.

Occasionally, the manufacturer wants to enable a new feature or extend an existing feature often thanks to OS updates. A new driver will help an updated computer interact with the peripheral device.

The problem with updated drivers is that most manufacturers don’t announce when they’re going to be released. The average user may not know that an updated driver is available and may only go looking for updated drivers if a problem arises. Windows has been able to detect and download drivers, but many users don’t have their computers configured properly to install new driver updates. In addition, Windows sometimes misidentifies the driver that’s needed. From experience I can say that downloading and installing the wrong driver can be as bad as having no driver at all.
Windows may catch updates, but it won’t catch a misbehaving or corrupted driver, either.

Driver Detective is a driver management program that identifies, downloads, installs and monitors your Windows drivers. If a new driver becomes available, or if your existing installed driver gets corrupted or accidentally removed, Driver Detective will reinstall a fresh copy of the driver seamlessly. I recommend Driver Detective because it does such a good job of maintaining an up-to-date driver library.

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If you’ve been around computers for a long time, the prospect of an easy OS upgrade (or even an OS update) can seem grim. It’s a story heard ’round-the-world, so to speak, and it goes something like this: new OS doesn’t like old drivers. Another variation on the story is that an old piece of hardware that’s critical to the operation (or still in perfect working order or required for a legacy function) isn’t made anymore and there’s no driver support for the device beyond what the manufacturer abandoned, etc.

Missing Hardware Drivers Can Ruin Your Day
The lack of drivers could certainly ruin your day. Microsoft has received more than an earful of complaints regarding driver availability and driver quality and tried to build in an automated driver update process. The thinking was that whenever the OS updated, Windows would go out and find the right drivers and send them along to your OS.

Good thought. Bad execution. Many Windows users found that Windows was downloading the incorrect drivers, replacing drivers that didn’t need replacement, missing drivers that should have been passed along in the critical updates, and other driver mishaps. They also found out – often too late – that they didn’t know how to configure their computers correctly for the automatic updates to take place, and that the auto updates often slowed the computer down to a crawl at critical times, like shutdown. If that weren’t enough, many hardware vendors never released updated drivers after an OS update, leaving plenty of users sitting in the dust.

The result: users who were still unhappy about the driver situation in Windows on top of the same never-fully-addressed driver situation in Windows. Now, to be sure, the automatic updates work sometimes. Most computer users don’t want a computer that works sometimes, though. I know I don’t. Although computer techs don’t like to admit it, most computer users just want to sit down at their computers and work. They don’t want to worry about driver updates, or OS updates. They don’t even want to worry about their anti-virus updates!

For those users, one of the best solutions – at least in the foreseeable future – is a product like Driver Detective. It’s a top-selling driver manager that automatically finds, loads and checks the status of each driver each time the computer starts. Driver Detective will find missing and broken drivers, apply driver updates and generally keep things flowing smoothly. It’s ideal for the millions of users who just want their computers to work.

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