A computer driver should be created by the manufacturer that created the hardware equipment as well. It is the only one that knows best what program to write for that hardware component. If you buy a printer from a certain producer, then that producer is the one that should write the codes for making the printer work when the user installs it on a computer. Sure, you can download the program from the manufacturer’s site, but it is not the same as you would get it from a CD. That is why it is best to wait to receive the disk, and only after that to install the program in your computer.
When you buy a printer, for example, or a scanner, you will receive an installation disk. The procedure is very simple in almosr all the cases. You simply have to press Next and then Next. Until you will be required to press Finish. So, now you know how to install a driver. In fact, you don’t. What driver manufacturers want is to make the consumers to buy the drivers from them, or to download them directly from their official Websites, but not to install them from other sources. A printer created by Canon will work only if you will install in the computer the right driver for that printer. If you have the S300 version of the printer, you will not make the printer work, by installing the S200 version of the disk. They are different models, thus the disks must be different as well.
The Windows operating systems have a large range of drivers which are already installed on your computer when you receive if it for the first time. An important part of the drivers installed on the computer are for the hardware equipments that are found on any computer, thus in this situation Microsoft takes small risks. The other part, which is not that important, but very important for a user that doesn’t know how to install a driver, if he gets one for a new printer or for a new USB device, is represented by the drivers created for sound boards, video cards, FireWire equipments, Wireless devices, mice, network cards, modems and others, which are almost all the times created by famous designers.
If you buy a computer in 2007 and a printer in 2008, which was released in 2008, not in 2007, just like the computer you bought a year ago, don’t expect your new printer will have a driver installed in your computer, which was bought, as I said before, a year ago. The drivers installed on the computer, are for the well-known manufacturers of drivers, scanners and the other equipments aforementioned and are contemporary with the release date of the computer.
If you buy a printer that no one heard of, even if you buy it in the same year as the purchase date of the computer, you have very big chances that your computer to not have installed the driver for that printer. If you update the operating system, the situation will change, because a new operating system will come with the new drivers, which will possibly include that printer of yours. Still, if the printer is available only in India and you live in France, there are small chances for the computer to come with the driver in it. The operating systems from Microsoft come from the United States, so the US has to hear about the Indian printer manufacturer. If they don’t hear, they will not include the driver for a printer created by that company. As I said before, the most important companies have pre-installed drivers on operating systems, not all the electronics producers in the world.
When you buy a peripheral, you have to be attentive to provide you an installation disk and also to be compatible with the computer you have back home. And with the operating system installed on it. If you have an OS bought in 2005, you don’t have to switch to the next OS developed in 2007, which is Windows XP. You simply have to update the database with the new drivers existing on the market. Once again, I tell you, that this database is filled only with drivers that are designed by famous manufacturers, not all the producers of software equipment.
When you want to use a hardware component, which is older than the operating system, then the OS might give the error: “unknown hardware”. In this case, the software is updated, but the hardware is not. Make sure to keep up the pace with the pace of technology. You don’t have to buy a new operating system, when this is released on market. You have time to buy it until a new version will be released. Or, if the time passes by, you can switch directly to the new version of the operating system.
The manufacturer of a driver for a hardware component, will offer support for at least 3 years from its release date, but usually no more than 4 years. In the first year immediately after the release date of the hardware component or equipment, it is in a way obliged to do this. In the following years, it is not obliged anymore, but the cycle of the product, like the cycle of any other product on the market, is for about 3-4 years. After this period, there will be new operating systems and new computers, in terms of monitors, motherboards, processors and so on.
The Windows users are blessed because these systems offer a good support when it comes to drivers. And this is not only for the new drivers, but also for drivers that perhaps for other operating systems, are considered outdated. That is about it for today regarding drivers. I will keep you up to date with this subject in the next future.11
