TEKLYNX Rolls Out Windows 7 Drivers

New Drivers Are A Good Sign Of Windows 7 Adoption

As with regular printers, it’s generally a good sign when a manufacturer releases new drivers to extend the function of a device to a new operating system. Barcode printers are specialized pieces of equipment, and the availability of Windows 7 drivers is not likely to make a major splash among users who don’t have a barcode printer.

The availability of new Windows 7 drivers for a niche product, however, is a strong positive indication that more users (especially commercial users) are lining up to add Windows 7 to their list of supported operating systems. Unlike Windows Vista, which was a commercial dud, Windows users across the board are moving toward Windows 7 adoption.

With the advent of the new fiscal year, we should begin to see the many organizations that time their upgrades to budget cycles start moving toward Windows 7. The fact that Windows 7 doesn’t make major hardware demands on PCs, plus the added benefit of the Windows XP emulation mode, should make migration an easy decision.

Despite Microsoft’s best efforts, however, the question of driver availability, especially for older hardware and niche products is still open. If manufacturers and software publishers create a broad range of drivers for older and uncommon hardware, and if Microsoft can deliver on its promise of stability – so far it has – Windows 7 is likely to experience the wide adoption that Windows XP did.

For the remainder of 2010, users should expect to see additional driver rollouts for older hardware and niche hardware. Until the Great Driver Migration is complete, however, some users will be engaged in a “chicken and egg” conundrum: “I’ll upgrade if the drivers are available” will do battle with “We’ll write drivers only if we see a lot of people upgrading to Windows 7.”

Once Windows 7 has been on the shelf for a year, it’s unlikely that a large number of new drivers will enter the market. Instead, manufacturers will carry Windows 7 support forward in their product line, but won’t likely look backward, even for some of their more popular legacy products.

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You Can Still Find Windows Drivers For Your Old Hardware

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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New ATI Drivers May Improve Video Performance

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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Windows 7 Handles Some Driver Problems, Not Others

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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Finding Windows Drivers Has Never Been Easier

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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Windows 7 Upgrades Can Be Slow!

Driver Issues May Still Keep You Down

The Windows upgrade route isn’t going to be a smooth sail for many users. The process is rather time consuming, in part, because Windows needs to do a lot of verifying on your existing setup to make sure all of your drivers, components and applications are in order. Not every application that ran smoothly under Vista will run under Windows 7, and part of Windows 7’s setup routine is to verify that each application will (or won’t) run.

If your computer has a lot of applications installed, this part of the setup process can take an extraordinarily long time. Applications that don’t pass the sniff test are marked as such and Windows 7 won’t allow these programs to run in the new OS environment.

Although Microsoft has worked closely with hardware manufacturers to make sure that drivers are available for hardware, there are still a few driver problems to be had, and many manufacturers have announced (post-release) that some of their hardware lines simply won’t be supported under Windows 7.

Before you upgrade your computer, check with the hardware manufacturers that created your monitors, printers, drives, mice, etc., to see whether they’ve created a driver for your particular hardware. In some case, a driver isn’t currently available, but is in the works; in other cases, you may find your hardware on the list of obsolete devices.

That may not be of much comfort to you, but at least you’ll know going into the process whether or not all of your hardware will be making the journey with you. If some pieces of hardware don’t have a Windows 7-compatible driver, you may find luck with a generic driver, or you may find that it’s easier and less hassle to spring for a peripheral upgrade.

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Windows 7 And 64-Bit Drivers

Is There A Workaround For An Unsigned Driver

Most sophisticated technical users don’t really appreciate the “nanny” aspect of this security feature. Microsoft is in charge of passing out the digital signatures, and as you might expect, there’s a cost to getting your driver signed. Now, the cost isn’t borne by the user, but instead, the manufacturer of the driver needs to pony up for the digital signature. That’s why manufacturers don’t much care for this feature.

Users tend not to like it much because an unsigned driver won’t work. It can’t because it never gets loaded. Even if the driver were otherwise flawless, the fact that it doesn’t have a signature will prevent it from seeing the light of day. That’s why users don’t much like the feature.

So, naturally, the question arises: is there a workaround for an unsigned driver? Well, yes there is, but users aren’t going to like it much. If you want to use an unsigned driver, you’ll need to press F8 every time your system boots up. This will quickly turn into a major pain for users who don’t want to hang around while their computer gets its act together. That’s Microsoft’s acknowledgment that there may be times when a user really needs to load an unsigned driver. The F8 business was built into the Windows 7 OS to allow for driver testing. It’s in the final version and you can use it as a way around the annoying “unsigned driver” problem.

So, if the annoying workaround is too horrible (or inconvenient) to follow, is there a real workaround for an unsigned driver? (A real workaround as in one that doesn’t require user intervention each time the computer boots up.)

I’ve seen at least two different workarounds, but both involve disabling the User Account Control (UAC). Now, for some users, disabling UAC isn’t a problem, since they don’t like it anyway. UAC is that annoying program that pops up warnings when the computer concludes that you might be doing something that could lead to computer ruin. If you’re intent on using unsigned drivers (or opening up your system to unsigned drivers) and don’t mind taking the safety cables off, I’ll share some unsigned driver solutions in my next post.

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Locating Compatible Drivers Doesn't Have To Be Hard

Driver Detective Can Make A Difference

For some manufacturers, making drivers available or abandoning a particular hardware platform is a matter of practicality. Developing a Windows 7 driver for hardware may not represent much effort, especially if a Windows Vista driver was made available. On the other hand, if a manufacturer chose not to make a Windows Vista driver available, the amount of work needed to support its older hardware at this point may be too great to justify writing drivers for legacy products. In some ways, the advent of Windows 7 will allow hardware manufacturers to make a “clean break” when it comes to their older (but still serviceable) hardware.

For most users, however, the biggest challenge is finding drivers – even ones that are readily available. For users that have difficulty managing drivers or who don’t use (or don’t trust) the automatic update function in Windows, using a driver manager software like Driver Detective means that you’ll never have to worry about finding the correct driver for the hardware you’re using or downloading a driver that’s incompatible with your OS. You’ll never have to troubleshoot driver problems either. When a new driver is available or your existing driver has gone bad, Driver Detective will identify the problem and correct it immediately. It’s almost like having your own personal PC technician working on your computer around the clock.

Driver Detective has been certified to work on all versions of Windows. No matter what OS you’re running, Driver Detective can help you manage your drivers and keep your system updated. It even takes care of the installation. You simply load and configure Driver Detective and the software does the rest. Driver Detective is an award-winning program that’s been downloaded more than 1,000,000 times by users all over the world. Regardless of what version of Windows you’re running, let Driver Detective manage your system drivers.

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Windows 7 Upgrade Report

For users who are running an older version of the operating system, such as XP, a clean installation is required. Clean installations require you to do a complete backup of your data before you perform any upgrades. Once the upgrade is complete, you can transfer your files back to the upgraded computer.

Drivers Aplenty

Not every hardware manufacturer released drivers for Windows 7 ahead of the product launch, and a few manufacturers have released lists of products that will (or will not) be supported under Windows 7. HP hasn’t yet released any printer drivers and says that its older printer products will have “limited” support. Generally, HP printers that don’t already have a Vista driver aren’t likely to get a driver that’s Windows 7-compatible, leaving even popular older models out in the rain.

For some users, that will mean upgrading the printer. There are several low-cost printers on the market today, including some nice multi-function and mono laser printers. Driver availability aside, often the cost of refurbishing older printers (with a new photo drum and toner cartridge) will exceed the cost of buying a new printer.

Manufacturers are much more likely to provide driver support for newer printers, too. There’s at least an even chance that you’ll find something that works just as well as what you’ve got for less money than you think, so if your old printer isn’t supported, do the research on replacing it with a newer model. Before you buy, however, verify with the manufacturer that a Windows 7-compatible driver will be available for the printer you select.

For the most part, the feedback on the migration to Windows 7 has been pretty good. No migration is without problems, but the volume of complaints from users is noticeably lower than it was when Vista first appeared on the market. In general, consumers are happy with the product and are finding that the most common drivers they need are readily available. That’s a big leap forward for most Windows users. If you’re still planning to stick with XP, you’ll be able to order new computers with a downgrade license for the next few months. After that, you’re likely to be on your own.

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What Will Cause Problems For Windows 7

Older Hardware May Not Work So Well With Windows 7

Microsoft has been working hard to help ensure that the latest drivers are available and compatible with Windows 7, but users who have older hardware may be in for a surprise. Often, manufacturers don’t support older hardware and may not provide an updated driver. And don’t be confused by the term “older.” “Older” could mean hardware that was made in 2007 or 2008.

Generally, if you’re running Windows Vista and you’ve got all of your driver ducks in a row, you’re not likely to experience much in the way of problems. What runs on Vista should for the most part, run on Windows 7. After all, Windows 7 was built on the Vista platform. If you’re running an older version of the OS – like Windows XP or older – all bets are seriously, completely and thoroughly off. You may be able to find a driver from the manufacturer or you may be able to find a third-party driver that interfaces your hardware with Windows 7. If you’re supremely talented, you might be able to write your own driver, but that’s not something for the uninitiated, so that’s not a realistic solution for most people.

Don’t forget that Windows 7 has a built-in Windows XP virtual machine. You can run Windows XP virtually within Windows 7, and in the virtual environment, your old XP drivers will still work. This is probably the most likely workaround for XP fans who adopt Window 7 earlier rather than later.

The issue of signed and unsigned drivers will also continue to cause problems for people who migrate to Windows 7. Basically, a “signed” driver includes information about the author, who swears on a stack of DOS disks that the driver is authentic, hasn’t been altered since it was released and, in theory, works the way it should An “unsigned” driver isn’t as trustworthy – after all, who knows where it came from, right? The idea behind a signed driver is security. If the driver is “signed” it should be unaltered from the original and should be safer. Windows Vista and Windows 7 want signed drivers. You can turn this desire off in the configuration for the computer, but that disables a “security” feature and will open your computer up to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. (Or might, anyway.)
Driver availability will be less of a problem. Microsoft has been working hard since July to ensure that many drivers are available on Zero Day. I believe Windows adopters will be pleasantly surprised by Windows 7, at least in this aspect.

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