Here's how to check on a device's current driver:

This lesson uses a video card as an example, but you can do it for any device (although as mentioned earlier, some devices use generic Windows drivers, so they're going to be pretty boring in this regard).

1. Open the Start menu, right-click My Computer and select Properties.
2. Click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.
3. Click the plus sign next to the desired category to expand it, for example, Display Adapters.
4. Check the exact name of the device. Write it down if you think you'll forget it. (This will be useful later when you're looking for a driver update.)
5. Double-click the device to display its properties, and then click the Driver tab. For example, Figure 3-4 shows the video card's properties.

Figure 3-4: The properties for a device from Device Manager.

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6. Check the date on the driver, and whether it's signed. In Figure 3-4, for example, the date is 10/6/2003 and it's signed by Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher.
7. Click Cancel when you're finished, and then close the Device Manager window.

When searching for a driver, you're looking for one that is signed, and newer than the one you currently have.

Search for a Driver Update

Now begins the big scavenger hunt! Search the web for a better driver than the one you have. The most obvious place to start is the device manufacturer's website. For example, in Figure 3-4, the device manufacturer is NVIDIA.

Once you get to the manufacturer's Web site, look for a Downloads hyperlink, and then wander through their system to find the driver for the exact model you have. A close match is not good enough -- it has to be exact. For example, the device in Figure 3-4 is a NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS video card; you cannot use a driver for a GeForce3 model unless the documentation clearly states that a single driver worked on all GeForce cards (which is in fact the case with that particular line, but don't assume it.)

When you click a link to download a driver, you're prompted to Save or Open. You should always select Save, put the file in a temporary folder (name it anything you want), and then run it from there after saving it. That way if you ever need it again, you have it. In contrast, if you select to Open it, it downloads and the setup program runs, but afterwards it's discarded.

The resulting file you download will probably be an executable file that runs a setup program; if so, great. Run it. If it's a Zip file containing a bunch of files, however, or an executable file that simply unzips files into a folder, you must install the new driver using the procedure described in the following section.

Manually Installing a Driver Update

It's important that you only use this procedure if your downloaded update did not come with its own setup program.

To manually install a driver, follow these steps:

1. Open the Start menu, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.
2. Click the plus sign next to the desired category to expand it.
3. Double-click the device to display its properties, and then click the Driver tab.
4. Click the Update Driver button. The Hardware Update Wizard runs.
5. Click Install from a list or specific location, and then click Next.
6. Click Include this location in the search, and then enter the path where you stored the download (or browse for it if you like), as shown in Figure 3-5.

Figure 3-5: Tell Windows where to find the new driver.

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7. Click Next. Windows checks the new driver against the old one, and if the new one is better, it installs it. Follow whatever prompts appear to complete the process.

In Figure 3-5, you'll see that there's also a Don't Search option, but this is not recommended because it could enable you to install an older driver over the top of a newer one.