Updating Your Device Drivers
Keeping your device drivers up to date ensures that your computer delivers optimum performance under Windows 10 and makes your whole system more stable and reliable. Once you have updated the drivers for one device, doing the same for any others is relatively easy and quick.
Finding Device Drivers
Windows 10 comes with default generic drivers that will let it talk to most common peripherals but for optimum performance it's a good idea to download and install the latest custom made drivers for your hardware.
- Go to the website of your peripheral manufacturer. In this case we're looking at the website for Epson printers, to install an update for an R2400 photo printer. Click on the link for product support and enterthe model name and/or number.
- Some websites (such as Epson's) can automatically detect the operating system you're using and immediately offer you the latest recommended driver. In other cases you will have to tell the site that you're using Windows 10.
- Once you've entered the model name and told the site that you're looking for Windows 10 drivers, you should be offered a link to download the latest driver. Click on the link and download the driver file to your desktop.
- If you're installing a driver for a device that has to be plugged in and switched on in order to work, such as a printer, make sure that the device is connected and powered up before proceeding.
- Once the driver download is complete, go to your desktop and locate the newly downloaded file. Double-click on it to begin installation.
- You'll see a message from Windows asking if you want to proceed with software installation. Click OK to proceed.
- From here on the process is mostly just clicking OK on a series of windows. Do check that the device driver you are installing matches the device connected to your PC.
- The driver installation should only take a few seconds. When it is complete you will receive a notifiation telling you that the installation was successful.
- Repeat this process for any other peripherals that are connected to your system. You don't need to restart between installations for different types of devices.
- Once you've finished updating your drivers, it's a good idea to restart your machine, since this should clear out any temporary files created during the installation process, as well as finalising the deletion of any old drivers.