Top Driver Update Techniques: How to Safely Update Device Drivers in Windows

Want to optimize your device performance on Windows? Learn how to safely update your device drivers with this comprehensive guide. Discover expert techniques to enhance compatibility, stability, and overall system performance!

Top Driver Update Techniques: How to Safely Update Device Drivers in Windows

Drivers are a kind of software that Windows uses to operate your computer’s hardware. They are developed by device manufacturers, and you can get them from the manufacturer’s official website. Drivers are sent to Microsoft for testing and signing, so you can also get them via Windows Update. In case of modern operating systems, you don’t have to worry about updating drivers, but if things do go wrong, you may need the latest version. There are also many third-party utilities for updating drivers, for example, DriverPack Solution, but we don’t recommend using them.

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How to Install or Safely Update Device Drivers for Windows 10, 8 or 7 📀🔄💻

How to Install or Safely Update Device Drivers for Windows 10, 8 or 7 📀🔄💻

Are Driver Updates Necessary?

Generally speaking, we don’t recommend updating drivers without a good reason. As long as you have no problems, the current drivers must be all right. Even if the newer version is available, you may not see much difference. There’s no point in being obsessed with always having the latest drivers for every device in your computer.

Still, there can be good reasons to update graphics drivers. For example, game enthusiasts try to keep their graphics drivers as up to date as possible to ensure the best performance and reduce errаors when playing latest games. In other cases, the latest drivers are necessary if you encounter errors and the operating system can’t boot because some device needs better drivers.

If you decided to update drivers, don’t use a driver update utility. It is better to go directly to the developer’s official website, Or use Windows Update.

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How to Disable Driver Signature Verification in Windows 10, 8 or 7 🛑✔️💻

How to Update Device Drivers with Windows Update

In Windows 10, Windows Update will automatically download and install latest drivers. Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 also update their drivers with Windows Update, but Windows 10 does it more persistently, and if you disable this function, some difficulties may arise. To see how to disable Windows 10 automatic update, you can watch a video in our YouTube channel

Even if you have installed your own drivers, the operating system may overwrite them automatically when a newer version is available. Using Windows Update, you can forget about searching and updating drivers, as this function will do everything for you. You can see the latest updated rivers if you go to Settings / Update and Security / Windows Update.

Settings / Update and Security / Windows Update

Click on Update History

View Installed Update History

A window will open where you can see all updates or remove them.

Update History. A window will open where you can see all updates or remove them

The only drivers that Windows 10 can have problems updating are graphics drivers.

Updating Graphics Drivers

Updating graphics drivers

To check for updates and install them, you can use a utility that comes with the drivers. NVIDIA, AMD and Intel provide such utilities, and they will automatically check and download the latest graphics driver updates. Just open an NVIDIA GeForce, AMD Radeon or Intel graphics control panel depending on what device is installed in your computer. Such utilities are often found in the system tray, or can be located through the quick search function in the Start menu. The operating system will not update graphics drivers every time that NVIDIA or AMD roll out a new version. That’s why all PC gamers have to take care about their hobby.

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Three Ways to Disable Automatic Driver Update in Windows 10, 8, 7 🔄🚫💻

Three Ways to Disable Automatic Driver Update in Windows 10, 8, 7 🔄🚫💻

Updating Drivers from the Manufacturer’s Official Website

Go to the manufacturer’s website and look for the page where you can download drivers for a certain device model. In most of the cases, it’s a webpage with a long list of drivers for download. By the date of publication, you can easily see which one is the latest.

Updating Drivers from the Manufacturer’s Official Website

In the same website, you can also find updates for BIOS and UEFI, but we don’t recommend installing them without a really good reason. How to update BIOS – find all answers by watching a video in our YouTube channel

Then all you have to do is to find, download and install the driver.

Vladimir Artiukh

Author: , Technical Writer

Vladimir Artiukh is a technical writer for Hetman Software, as well as the voice and face of their English-speaking YouTube channel, Hetman Software: Data Recovery for Windows. He handles tutorials, how-tos, and detailed reviews on how the company’s tools work with all kinds of data storage devices.

Oleg Afonin

Editor: , Technical Writer

Oleg Afonin is an expert in mobile forensics, data recovery and computer systems. He often attends large data security conferences, and writes several blogs for such resources as xaker.ru, Elcomsoft and Habr. In addition to his online activities, Oleg’s articles are also published in professional magazines. Also, Oleg Afonin is the co-author of a well-known book, Mobile Forensics - Advanced Investigative Strategies.

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