The Role of Updated Drivers in Speeding Up Windows

The operating system hosts different components that play crucial roles in ensuring a smooth performance. The device drivers top the list as they enable the operating system to communicate properly with your hardware. This is why you have probably heard people in tech forums saying you must often update drivers to ensure great performance. However, have you ever wondered exactly what the drivers do to improve your machine’s speed? Read on to find out.

How Updated Drivers Help Speed Up Your PC

Here are some of the major benefits that updating drivers provide:

Updated Drivers Help Boost the Gaming Speed

If you are a PC gamer, you probably have some tricks up your sleeve on how to speed up Windows 10 when gaming. This is crucial because Windows is prone to random issues that may unexpectedly slow down your gaming experience. One of the must-have skills to ensure excellent gaming is updating drivers, especially the graphics card. Having an outdated graphics driver causes lag, making it hard to run and play video games. This becomes worse if you play huge games that demand excellent conditions to function properly. 

Updating your drivers helps create the best environment to run video games. This enables you to game smoothly without worrying about being held back by random hanging. 

Updated Drivers Eliminate Bugs

Do you experience screen flickering, strange errors, or crashing issues while using your computer? If yes, then your drivers are probably buggy. So, you must update them to resolve the issue. Installing the latest updates enables you to easily remove bugs from the driver, enabling your computer to run faster and efficiently. This also prevents random system crashes that can easily hurt your productivity. 

Updated Drivers Add New Features

Most driver updates usually bring new features to enable you to tweak things up to speed up operations. This is especially useful when performing memory-intensive tasks that can easily slow down your PC. Besides boosting speed, the new features also improve the user experience. For instance, NVIDIA drivers use DLSS (deep learning super sampling) that makes low-resolution images still look great when gaming. 

They Help Resolve and Avoid Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Errors

If you are a long-time Windows user, you have likely experienced the BSOD issue. This error randomly appears on your screen, making it blue, and preventing you from doing anything until it’s resolved. The error mostly displays a message that could help determine the cause. For example, it can indicate that the issue was caused by “nvlddmkm.sys”, meaning the NVIDIA graphics driver is the culprit. Therefore, updating this driver would help you work smoothly with your machine without being rudely interrupted by the error, thus improving productivity. 

How to Update Drivers in Windows

Now that you know how updated drivers benefit the operating system, let’s discuss how to update the drivers. There are different ways to go about it. We will discuss all of them, so choose one that seems best for you.

Method 1: Use the Device Manager

To update drivers using this method, follow the steps below:

1. Press the Windows logo + S keyboard combo to open Search.
2. Type in “device” (without quotes). Then click on the “Device Manager” search result. Or, choose “Open” from the right-side menu.
3. Double click on a section to display the drivers under it.
4. Right-click on a driver and select “Update driver”.
5. Next, choose “Search automatically for drivers”.
6. Now, wait for Windows to automatically download the updated driver.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for all the drivers you want to update. 
8. Then restart the PC.

Method 2: Update Windows

Installing Windows updates helps detect outdated or missing device drivers and automatically download their latest versions. 

Here is how to update Windows:

1. Use the Win + I key combo to summon the Settings application.
2. Go to Update & Security.
3. Click on the “Check for updates” button on the right pane.
4. Windows will check for any available updates and automatically download them.
5. Restart your machine.

Method 3: Use an Automatic Driver Updater

You could also install a driver updater to enable you to quickly search for outdated drivers on your PC and update them automatically. This makes it easier to update drivers since you don’t have to update one at a time. However, there are many driver updaters in the market, and not all are reliable. Therefore, research thoroughly to help find a high-quality and reliable driver updater that won’t disappoint.

Conclusion

Updating your device drivers is one of the best ways to resolve issues on a Windows PC and keep them at bay. This article has discussed how updated drivers allow you to boost your machine’s speed. It has also added some guides on updating your drivers to reap the same benefit. Therefore, we hope you are now equipped with all you need to upgrade your drivers and solve any related issues you may bump into. However, if you still have questions on today’s topic, then feel free to leave a comment below. Also, check out our blog for more helpful guides like this one.