What is a Driver?
A driver is a small piece of software that controls a device. Every device, whether it be a printer, disk drive, or keyboard must have a driver. Many drivers, such as the keyboard driver come with the operating system. For other devices, you may need to load a new driver when you connect the device to your computer. In DOS and Windows systems, drivers are files with a .sys extension. In Windows environments, drivers can also have a .drv or .vxd extension.
A driver acts like a translator between the device and programs that use the device. Each device has its own set of specialized commands that only its driver knows. In contrast, most programs access devices by using generic commands. The driver, therefore, accepts generic commands from a program and then translates them into specialized commands for the device.
Is it worth downloading new drivers?
YES - Drivers are not your ordinary software updates. The common point with these two is that they both often offer new and improved functionality and resolve technical issues.
You should always keep your drivers up to date as this will help you get the most out of your hardware and software.
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