For each hardware component you have in your PC, Windows requires a small program called a driver to make it work correctly. A driver is a piece of software that basically tells Windows how to run the hardware – sort of like telling it how to drive it or control it, hence the name “driver.” Without the proper drivers, Windo

ws cannot use your hardware, so these little programs are very important. If you are experiencing malfunctions with your hardware, you may find that updating a driver or reinstalling it will correct the problem. If you are installing new hardware and it won't work, then you may have forgotten to install the driver.

For most hardware components that you buy brand new, you will find a disk in the box that has the necessary drivers on it. In this quick tutorial, we will go over the steps involved with installing a driver from a manufacturer's disk.

1.) Pop the disk into your ROM drive and wait for it to spin up.
2.) A menu should appear asking you what you want to do – if you see an option for “Install drivers,” choose that and then follow the instructions it gives you.

If no menu appears, then follow these steps:

1.) Go to the My Computer icon and right click on it. Select Properties.
2.) On the window called System Properties that will appear, click on the tab at the top called Device Manager.
3.) Find the appropriate device in the list of devices on your computer.
4.) Click on the device, and then click on Properties for it.
5.) Find the Drivers tab and click on Update Drivers.
6.) Let it know where to look for the driver in the Specify a Location area – in this case, your ROM drive.
7.) Install the appropriate driver and then reboot your PC.

Following these steps will allow you to install a device driver from a disk provided by the device's manufacturer.