Keeping your system updated is a bit of a chore, but Microsoft has automated that task for the most part. Still, some users prefer to do or authorize upgrades and updates manually. Few things are more disappointing to a user than to spend a lot of time applying a major update like a service pack, only to find out that the SP won’t load. Believe it or not, your Windows drivers can make or break a service pack installation.

Drivers Can Cause Installation Failures

When this kind of failure happens, you can roll back the OS to its previous state easily enough, but how do you solve the problem of updating when the SP won’t load? There are several prime suspects when you get this kind of error, but one of the most common reason for service pack installation failures is the drivers loaded onto the computer.

A good prophylactic step is to review all of your Windows drivers. Remove the drivers you’re no longer using and update all drivers you are using to their active revision level. Drivers – either those too old or those unused – can interfere with operating system updates and installations for important things like service packs.

The importance of driver maintenance can’t be understated here because it can make the difference between working on a more safe, more secure and more stable OS and working on an OS that’s vulnerable to third-party attack or chronic instability.

If you can’t bear the thought of doing regular driver maintenance, and your Windows OS doesn’t seem to find all of the driver updates you need, consider a different approach to driver management. Driver Detective is a driver management software program that can maintain and monitor your system drivers for you, leaving you available to take care of more important matters.

Driver Detective has been downloaded more than 1,000,000 times and has received excellent reviews from users and professionals alike. Driver Detective will download and install new driver software, remove old drivers, and maintain a local backup copy of the current driver revision. Driver Detective will save time and effort over the long run because you won’t waste your time on fruitless installations, troubleshooting and rollbacks.

Driver Detective will find and apply new updates automatically, so you don’t even need to go out looking for updates. When an update for a driver your system uses is made available, Driver Detective will find it, download it, install it, back it up and archive the old driver. You can also roll back to the older driver version if you need to. Seriously, it doesn’t get any better than this!

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Windows driver problems can be frustrating – even agonizing. They’re sometimes hard to diagnose and can put you through a lot of grief before you identify and resolve the issue. I have recently encountered a person in this predicament whose solution was to do a completely clean installation of Windows 7.

Drastic Measures Are Rarely Necessary

There was a time when “blowing away” the offending drive and starting over was the preferred option, but I find that as Windows has become more complex and sophisticated, this option becomes less and less attractive. A driver, while exceptionally important, isn’t so integral to the system that a corrupted driver requires an Armageddon-style approach.

I find that avoiding Windows driver problems in the first place is my preferred method of dealing with this. But how do you avoid driver problems? Drivers can be problematic because they become corrupted or outdated, or a conflict arises between a new OS update and the existing driver. Driver problems can also arise when the wrong driver is installed as the result of a faulty update. Firmware updates can also cause driver problems. I’ve even run into issues where two “identical” computers have different revisions of a piece of hardware. Following an update, one works and the other doesn’t. Few, if any of these things are under the control of the user, right?

True, you can’t control corruptions, or OS updates, or firmware updates, and you can’t help which hardware revisions a manufacturer uses in your computer. You may or may not be able to spot a faulty installation, depending upon how well you know your system. So how do I manage this and avoid Windows driver problems? I don’t.

I rely on driver management software – specifically Driver Detective – to manage my Windows drivers. Driver Detective inventories a system, notes the correct drivers for all hardware components and then monitors and manages the drivers. If a driver becomes corrupted, Driver Detective will load a fresh copy of the driver. If a driver is accidentally (or purposely) deleted, Driver Detective will replace it. Driver Detective also monitors driver updates. When a new driver is found, Driver Detective backs up the old driver, downloads the new one, installs it and makes a copy of the new driver. If the new driver doesn’t perform as expected, or causes unanticipated problems, rolling back to the old driver is quick and easy.

I don’t worry about my drivers anymore and I don’t spend time on a Saturday checking for hardware driver updates. I let Driver Detective do the work and I enjoy my weekend!

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In the grand scheme of things, Windows 7 is a lot easier to use than earlier versions of the operating system. One area in which users have gotten the most improvement is in adding devices. Back in the day, adding a new hardware device to Windows involved adding hardware drivers, restarting and praying that your device could be seen. Today, the operation is much smoother and typically doesn’t require driver installation for most devices.

Sometimes Windows Doesn’t See The Hardware Device

The improvements have been so good that it’s almost surprising today to plug in certain devices and have Windows NOT see them. One area in which users experience consistent problems, however, is with USB devices. The USB standard has undergone some changes, and more changes are on the way, but USB connections have proven to be extremely popular with users, in part because the devices are portable, reliable and they’re easy to connect.

So what happens when you plug in a USB device and Windows doesn’t see it? What are your options for correcting the problem?

USB connections are good, but they’re not foolproof. USB hubs, for example, are quite popular with users, primarily because the number of USB devices has virtually exploded, but the number of USB ports on a computer still hovers around 2 or 3! Once you plug in a USB keyboard and a USB mouse, you’re not left with a lot of extra space for your iPod, digital camera, USB printer or other devices you may want to use. Enter the USB hub. The hub allows your USB devices to share a single USB port. That’s the good part. The bad part is that USB hubs don’t often pass along all of the information Windows needs to detect a USB device properly.

If you plug in a USB device into a hub, rather than into the computer directly, and Windows can’t see it, try plugging your device directly into the USB port on the computer to see if you get better “visibility.” If so, you know that there’s a communications issue between your device, your USB hub and Windows. There may not be a neat solution to this one, other than using an available USB port on your computer.

You can also try to get the Device Manager to give you a hand by uninstalling the USB host controller. (Start > Properties>Device Manager>USB Controllers – Uninstall) Sounds dangerous, but it’s not. Once you’ve uninstalled the USB host controller, restart your computer. Windows will re-install the controller on startup and if all goes well, your devices should now be able to communicate with Windows. If it doesn’t and your hub came with a driver disc, re-install the hardware driver from the disc and you should be back in business.

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Last month, Microsoft made a Kinect software developer kit available for Windows. This will allow third-party software developers to create new Windows applications for the Kinect technology. Prior to the release of the Kinect drivers for Windows, the technology was available only for the Xbox 360 game system and as an open-source kit from PrimeSense.

Hardware Drivers Mean Everything

With the availability of the Kinect drivers, consumers should expect to see new gaming opportunities for Windows 7 applications, as well as apps that are programmed using Visual Basic/Visual Studio 2010, C++ or C#. This is good news for gamers who don’t have an Xbox 360 system but still want to take advantage of the technology. It may also be a way for Xbox 360 gamers who have the Kinect system to extend the technology to their PCs.

The availability of Kinect drivers may also open some other creative uses of the Kinect technology. For the most part, it’s designed to be a game controller, but the technology could also provide precise control for non-gaming applications. One potential might be applications that study or use human motion. The Kinect technology may also be useful for designing more realistic animations.

The availability of hardware drivers is essential to support any hardware-based technology in Windows. Keeping drivers updated and properly maintained is also important to ensure that a Windows computer system interacts reliably with the attached peripheral devices.

With third party drivers for Windows-compatible hardware, there is no predictable development or update cycle. Each manufacturer is responsible for updating and distributing its own drivers. This complicates driver maintenance because the user must continually check for new driver updates. The Windows operating system does have a way to automate driver updates, but not all manufacturers use it and not all driver updates need to be loaded.

To manage and maintain drivers, consider using a driver management program like Driver Detective. Driver Detective will monitor your system for driver updates, and will track which updates are required for your particular system. In addition, it will download, install and back up any new drivers, and keep a fresh copy available on the system in the event that the driver software becomes corrupted, or is accidentally removed.

Driver Detective also takes the drudgery out of maintaining your system. You don’t have to remember to look for updates because Driver Detective does that for you, quickly and reliably, every time. More than 1,000,000 users have downloaded and installed Driver Detective. Download your copy today!

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