Drivers; What Is A Driver; Identifying Drivers; Reinstalling Drivers - Dell Dimension DMC Owner's Manual

Drivers

What Is a Driver?

A driver is a program that controls a device such as a printer, mouse, or keyboard. All devices require
a driver program.
A driver acts like a translator between the device and any other programs that use the device. Each
device has its own set of specialized commands that only its driver recognizes.
Dell ships your computer to you with required drivers already installed—no further installation or
configuration is needed.
Many drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with your Microsoft
system. You may need to install drivers if you:
• Upgrade your operating system.
• Reinstall your operating system.
• Connect or install a new device.

Identifying Drivers

If you experience a problem with any device, identify whether the driver is the source of your
problem and, if necessary, update the driver.
Windows XP
Click the Start button and click Control Panel.
1
Under Pick a Category, click Performance and Maintenance.
2
Click System.
3
In the System Properties window, click the Hardware tab.
4
Click Device Manager.
5
Scroll down the list to see if any device has an exclamation point (a yellow circle with a [!]) on
6
the device icon.
If an exclamation point is next to the device name, you may need to reinstall the driver or
install a new driver (see page 45).

Reinstalling Drivers

NOTICE:
The Dell Support website at support.dell.com provides approved drivers for Dell™ computers.
If you install drivers obtained from other sources, your computer might not work correctly.
® ®
Windows operating
Advanced Troubleshooting
45