Device Driver

From HowToGeek

Device drivers are a piece of software that tell Windows how to talk to the hardware.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Device Examples 3 Driver Updates 4 Troubleshooting Driver Issues

Overview

Drivers are used to communicate with hardware devices. For instance, the video card driver handles writing to the screen.

Device Examples

• Video cards
• Network cards
• Sound cards
• Storage devices
• Printers

Driver Updates

todo: add info on updating a driver

Troubleshooting Driver Issues

todo: add troubleshooting info

List of Windows Components v
Features	Windows Aero - System Restore - Previous Versions - SuperFetch - User Account Control (UAC) - Offline Files - ReadyDrive - Instant Search - Windows Sidebar - Parental Controls - Speech Recognition - ClearType - DirectX 10 - ReadyBoost - BitLocker - Flip3D - Remote Desktop - Search Folders - Tablet PC - Windows SideShow
Services	Task Scheduler - Desktop Window Manager - Application Experience - Application Host Helper Service - Application Information - Application Layer Gateway Service - Application Management - Background Intelligent Transfer Service - Base Filtering Engine - Block Level Backup Engine Service - Certificate Propagation - COM+ Event System - Computer Browser - DHCPClient
Applications	Notepad - Windows Mail - Internet Explorer - Command Prompt (Cmd.exe) - Windows Calendar - Mobility Center - Task Manager - Photo Gallery - Windows Media Center - Windows Media Player - Wordpad - Windows Sidebar - Snipping Tool - Windows Contacts - Device Manager - Disk Defragmenter - Event Viewer - Fax and Scan - Windows Journal - Windows Meeting Space - Windows DVD Maker - Windows Easy Transfer
Security	User Account Control (UAC) - Windows Defender - Windows Firewall
Admin Tools	Control Panel - Device Manager - Microsoft Management Console (MMC)