How to get Free Driver Updates for Windows 7

Drivers are important for the proper functioning of your system. In the event of missing or corrupted software Drivers, some components may not behave erratically or not work at all. Software Drivers are necessary for all aspects of your computer’s operation from sound to wifi to printing. If you are experiencing issues with your PC, the problem may be out-of-date or missing device Drivers. Device manufacturers release Driver updates regularly to enhance the performance of their devices. It is important to keep your Devices updated with the latest Drivers available.

Windows 7 features a “Windows update” utility that updates Drivers for devices in the system. Generally, the device manufacturer presents the buyer with a Driver CD that has Drivers required for the effective functioning of the device. If you don’t have the Driver CD, you can always use the Windows Update utility to update Drivers in Windows 7.

If you want to update all your device Drivers, and automatically keep Drivers updated, then you can choose a driver update tool.

Let’s take a look at steps to update Drivers for Windows 7 using Windows Update

1. Click on Start button
2. Click on Windows Update
3. In the left pane, click Check for updates

Windows tell you about available updates and which updates are important, recommended, or optional. Sometime you may not find a particular Driver update in the list. In this situation, you can update the Driver for each hardware component or device manually or use the Driver Update Tool mentioned above.

Updating Drivers manually in Windows 7

1. Click on the Start button
2. Click Device Manager
3. Locate the device in the list for which you want to update Driver
4. Select the device and right-click on it
5. Click update driver software
6. You are presented with two options – “Search automatically for updated driver software” and “Browse my computer for updated software“
7. If you select first option (Search automatically for updated driver software), your computer will search for any available Driver update and present you with an option to install the update, if it finds any
8. If you choose the second option (Browse my computer for updated software), you are required to manually download the Driver update from device manufacturer’s website and install the Driver update yourself.

You will be required to follow the above given steps for every device and hardware component to update the Drivers. This is why updating Drivers manually can be quite a cumbersome task.

An easy way around this is using a driver update tool (a tool which automates the Driver update process for Windows 7 and other Operating Systems). The Driver program scans your system for obsolete, corrupted and missing Drivers and presents you with an option to update all Drivers for Windows 7.

If you are unsure of whether the problems is with your Drivers, you can use driver update tool to run a free Drivers Scan of your PC.