A Complete Guide to Computer Drivers

No no, were not talking about those who dangerously operate vehicles and will risk their necks to get to their destination..
Were talking about computer drivers, those annoying things you need to keep up to date for various reasons.
Well first off, what IS a driver?

-A driver is basically a software program, designed to help your operating system coincide with your hardware. In other words, it helps your computer recognize and operate your hardware. Without a driver, your computer wont know the difference between that top-of-the-line video card, and your speakers, or even your printer!

Most if not all of your hardware requires drivers to run. Your hardware most likely came with a CD or (for those older pieces of hardware) a floppy disk containing the driver for you to install at your pleasure. Your computer may also recognize certain hardware and automatically download the driver itself.

But.. What if I lost the CD/Floppy?

Don't worry, young sir/ma'am. If you know the manufacturer of your hardware, you may simply visit their website. 99% of the time, if they are a reliable company, they will have all of their drivers available for download on their website. They will often have instructions on how exactly to install their drivers specifically for your product.
If you don't know the manufacturer, if you have the box or the hardware itself, you will often be able to find a model number somewhere on the hardware. A simple Google search of this model number should take you directly to the manufacturer's page, and help you get the latest update of that driver.

You are right. Downloading drivers can become pesky and annoying, especially if you are active in a field that requires them to be up-to-date. Some areas where drivers are heavily stressed are in:
-Gaming
-Video Production
-Graphic Design
-Tons, Tons more.
Basically anything which requires you to use your hardware to its fullest potential (basically everything), requires you to have the newest driver as soon as possible. After a couple years of always visiting the manufacturers website to download their drivers, I got fed up with it. There had to be a solution. So, I quickly found the answer to that problem with a simple Google search! (Why didn't I think of this before!? xD) And the answer is...

Automatic Driver Downloading Programs!

Well, I searched high and low for the best of these programs, doing my research to ensure quality. I found that there are a lot of scammy-low end products out there that you have to watch out for, and many of the free ones are of low quality (not being compatible with various name brands of hardware that I had, or even my operating system), or containing viruses and just out there to do the exact OPPOSITE of what you want. So, I have compiled a list of my favorite program, and a quick review on it. I have only bought this one, and I am completely satisfied with it, I would have paid double for this program. So, enough blabbering, on to the review.

Driver Robot
-Driver Robot is personally the program that I bought, and it is the only program I will ever have bought. Driver Robot has TONS, and I mean TONS of drivers in its database. Literally, I have never had a problem, and my self-built PC has many different brands and types of hardware. Basically, the program scans your computer (sort of like a virus scanner, but for out of date drivers), finds the drivers that need updating, and updates them. All of that in 2-4 minutes, from my experience. They work on all windows operating systems, from XP to Windows 7. They have the hugest database of drivers on the market, not to mention it updates as soon as the latest drivers are released. It can even analyze your computer while it's not connected to the internet, and for me with a laptop, this really comes in handy.

Driver Mirroring- This sounds complicated but basically they just mirror the download links as soon as the drivers are released. What I found frequently happening was the manufacturers removing the drivers that I needed from their website, causing me to download them from sketchy 3rd party websites. Driver Mirroring gets rid of this problem in an instant.

Technical Support- I have never had to use it, but from what I have seen while researching this program everyone says that the customer support is great.

System Compatibility- This is something that I have found different than all the other programs. My PC has a copy of vista 64 bit, and this program is compatible with it. I am not sure why most others aren't, but this is a huge plus.

There are a ton of more great features I could talk about with DriverRobot, but I would just recommend you visit their website. Click here to visit DriverRobot's homepage.

Oh, did I mention you can scan your computer for free on their website? And yes, it is a legit scan not some scammy-virus type false scans that others might offer.

I hope you enjoyed this lens and would love it if you commented on it, let me know if it helped you, what I can improve on, ect.