Time moves forward, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. When you’re talking about computer hardware, though, time seems to speed right along. For many users, the computer seems to age a lot faster than the peripheral hardware does, and nowhere is this truer than when you’re talking about printers. This will become apparent the moment you try to locate a Windows hardware driver for a ten-year-old device.

Who Wants To Give Up A Printer?

Printers come in all shapes and sizes, and for right now, I’ll sidestep the question of inkjet versus laser. For most commercial purposes, laser printers rule the day because they’re longer-lasting and cost less over time than inkjet printers do. The longer lifespan of a laser printer does pose some problems, though. I can assure you that there are 10, 15- and even a few 20-year old laser printers that are happily churning out page after page, even if at an agonizingly slow rate.

That brings up one of the real challenges that owners of older peripheral hardware face when upgrading their operating system or their computer hardware: connectors. Older printers and peripheral devices expect to connect using a serial port or a parallel port. There are also a number of obsolete connector types you may have to deal with, like Centronics or PS/2 connectors. Newer hardware doesn’t always (often?) come with older connectors, including the die-hard standards like serial and parallel ports or VGA connectors.

Today’s computers come with USB ports and one or more new video connectors. With no place to connect a serial or parallel printer cable, you might be tempted to toss the old device, even if it still works. Usually, if you’re willing to do a little digging, you can find an adapter that will convert your old style printer connector to something that your new computer can recognize.

That leaves the problem of finding drivers for your older hardware. Yes, it’s possible to find drivers for old hardware. In some cases, existing drivers might work just fine, or a standard driver has been adapted for use with a newer computer and older equipment. The main obstacle becomes finding the correct driver.

In cases like this, I recommend that users download and configure a driver management software package like Driver Detective. Driver Detective has a library of millions of drivers that it can draw on to help you find the correct driver for your current hardware setup. Having the correct driver for your older hardware can mean the difference between having to replace an obsolete (yet still quite functional) piece of equipment and being able to get additional use out of it.

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Late last week, ATI released updated Windows drivers for its Catalyst 10.1 HD2000 series and newer cards. The new drivers support Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The driver release is intended to resolve some issues with the way the drivers interact with other hardware and software uninstallers.

Video Playback Could Be Improved With New Driver

According to ATI, the new driver release will address a host of issues that arose from a variety of common actions, including playing YouTube videos using the Adobe Flash player on Firefox, and problems with video or system response while using certain games. The new drivers are available for immediate download.

ATI is one of the premiere video card manufacturers and it’s no surprise that these drivers contain a number of fixes for nagging issues. In addition to fixing problems, the driver updates also improve the performance of certain cards on specific games, like Left 4 Dead 2.

Not all Windows users are lucky enough to find driver updates so easily, however. For many users, the process of downloading and installing drivers manually is time-consuming and frustrating. Manufacturers often make several different updates available for either a variety of products or different configurations of the same or similar products.

New drivers may or may not be available based on the chipset that your computer or hardware device uses, and users may not know offhand which devices they have installed. This can be a recipe for disaster, or at least a lot of wasted time and poor outcomes. Downloading the wrong driver can be as bad as downloading no driver at all, or working with a damaged driver.

I always recommend working with a driver management software package like Driver Detective. Driver Detective has a database of millions of drivers and can determine precisely which drivers are required for your specific hardware configuration. You don’t have to worry about using the wrong drivers or missing a driver update.

Once Driver Detective is installed, you can trust it to monitor your existing drivers and look for updates. If an update is located, Driver Detective will automatically download it, install it and archive it.

The archiving feature is important because Driver Detective can also watch your system to make sure your existing drivers don’t get corrupted, damaged or deleted. Should this happen Driver Detective will download a fresh copy and you’ll be on your way! You can continue to hunt for new drivers, download them and install them as you always have, or you can automate the process and get back to work on the things that really mean something to you.

As for me, I’m going to try these new drivers on Left 4 Dead 2.

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If you’re considering upgrading your Windows operating system to Windows 7, and you’re not already a Windows Vista user, you’ll be in for a few surprises – mostly pleasant. Overall, the upgrade process from Vista is easy, but if you skipped Vista and are now trying to move to Windows 7, the process of upgrading will take longer and require more technical skills, especially in the area of Windows drivers.

XP Has No Direct Upgrade Path

If you’re running Windows XP or an earlier version of the operating system, there is no direct upgrade path to Windows 7. That means you’ll need to do a “clean installation.” That involves backing up your data and reinstalling your applications. While this might seem like a daunting task, it will give you the opportunity to evaluate all of the software in your current load. My advice? If you don’t need it, don’t reload it.

For your hardware, you’ll need to do a little research to determine whether your manufacturer has released and updated driver. If so, Windows 7 will often (but not always) install it for you. In itself, this is a time-saver. Dealing with old or missing drivers can be exceptionally time-consuming. Even with the right drivers, things don’t always go smoothly.

The installation process has a few hitches in it, most noticeably one that places the computer in an infinite mid-installation rebooting loop under certain circumstances. This isn’t the universal experience by any means. I upgraded my computer at home (running Vista) in just a few hours with no real issues. Getting the remaining drivers installed and configured, which would have taken an additional evening, was handled by Driver Detective.

I always recommend driver management software. Driver Detective, which has been downloaded and installed by more than a million users, locates, downloads and installs updated drivers for any computer system. After installing the correct drivers, Driver Detective watches over the computer’s drivers, ready to replace old, outdated, corrupted or missing drivers instantly without additional assistance from you.

Finding and installing drivers is among the least-rewarding tasks associated with computer maintenance. Driver updates often sneak up on you, following upgrades and patches. If you don’t have the time to search for updated drivers for your computer, I recommend that you consider letting Driver Detective do the heavy lifting for you.

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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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