Updating the graphic drivers ensures that your PC is in top condition. Often people mislead us by saying that it is not essential to update graphics driver unless there is any issue with your computer. But, updating the graphics driver will undeniably boost the performance speed and fix some rare bugs.
The graphics driver is software that allows the computer’s operating system and programs to use its in-built graphics hardware. In general, there is no urgent need to update graphics driver until the time you are facing any graphics-related issue. For instance, if you experience any visual corruption while playing a new game, it is when you must update the graphics driver as Windows signals the issue as a graphics driver error.
But, if you are a regular PC game player, keeping your computer’s graphics drivers up-to-date will bring the best performance out of your hardware. Ignoring the update will lead to some severe consequences. The outdated drivers are at higher security risk, making the computer vulnerable to malicious software and hackers. Updating the graphics driver once every six months is safe as it will lessen the chances of running into a big driver and keep your computer up-to-date.
So, to utilise the best of your computer’s hardware services, you must know how to update graphics driver. The following contains an elaborate discussion on ways you can effortlessly update your graphics driver in Windows.
Using Windows Update To Update Graphics Drivers
Graphics driver is an essential software as it constitutes every computer screen pixel. Be it an image, video, text or game; the graphics drivers control whatever you view on the websites, games and video streams. Updating the drivers offers high performance and clear images on the screen. Hence, knowing how to update graphics driver manually is crucial, though it is quite a complicated task.
A simple way of updating the graphics driver is to use the built-in tool of Windows, Windows Update. The Windows Update is available in Windows 7 and 10, offering fine-tuned and Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certified drivers. Though the drivers you will get at the Windows Update are not typically the latest but are stable.
Thus, it is essential to know how to update graphics driver manually as it is arguably essential.
How To Update Graphics Driver On Windows 7 Using The Windows Update
- Open the Start menu on Windows and go to the Control panel.
- Next, click on the System and Security option and then the Windows Update.
- Click on the Check for Updates and see where there are any results for the latest update.
- If you do not see any result, the operating system is an active keeping tab on the Windows Updates and is also looking for the latest drivers.
- Now, look for the graphics cards that use the manufacturer names related to the graphics components like Intel Graphics, AMD Graphics or NVIDIA. You will find these in the main view or the Optional Updates category.
- Finally, if you can find any graphics mentioned above, card drivers, click on Install and wait until the installation process is complete.
Thus, following these six steps, you too can easily update graphics driver manually on Windows 7 without any hassle.
How To Update Graphics Driver On Windows 10 Using Windows Update
- Open the Start menu on Windows and go to the Settings option.
- Next on the screen, you will have to select Windows Update & Security. Here you can check any of the latest updates.
On Windows 10, updating the graphics drivers involves way fewer steps. In the final step, you will see that any available GPU drivers are automatically installed. Hence, the steps are simple and easy to remember.
Is Windows Device Manager Useful For Manual Graphics Driver Update?
Often, the Windows Update does not find new drivers. However, graphics hardware manufacturing companies offer monthly updates, bug fixes, and many more. But these changes take time to work through Microsoft’s certification process. If your driver is older than four months, you can use Windows Device Manager to update the latest driver.
Before getting started with an update, it is essential to back up all the current drivers, which will allow you to return to the current state if the process gets unfortunately hindered.
Update Graphics Driver on Windows 7
- Click on the Computer icon, choose Properties, and then go to Device Manager.
- Next, go to the Audio, Video and Game Controller to look for the latest entry of the graphics card under the Display Adapters heading.
- Then double-click on your graphics card, switch to the Driver tab and click on Update Driver.
- Now select Search automatically for the updated driver software.
- Repeat steps 1 to 3 if nothing new shows up. And instead, select Browse my computer for Driver software.
- The Window will now prompt you for a driver location. You can skip below to learn how to get the graphics driver if you have not downloaded any driver earlier.
- If your driver does not come with an installer, you will have to extract the file from the directory to where you have downloaded the file.
- Next, click on Let me pick from a list of available drivers on the computer.
- Click on the Hard Disk and Browse. Find the downloaded folder of the new graphics driver and double-click on the .inf file.
- Now click on Next to install the driver.
- Finally, you have updated your graphics driver successfully.
Update Drivers On Windows 10
- Click on Start Menu and type Device Manager.
- Now click on Device Manager and look for an entry in the list related to your graphics card, such as graphics, NVIDIA GeForce, Intel Graphics etc.
- Then double-click on your graphics card entry, go to Driver Tab and click on Update Driver.
- Next, select Search automatically for updated driver software which might find an update.
- If not, repeat the straps 1 to 3, and select Browse my computer for driver software.
- Here, you will have to choose a driver manually after reading the section below to find graphics drivers.
- The driver will come with its installer, but if not, click on Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
- Next, click on Install the driver.
- Finally, you have your updated driver.
Thus, these are some of the compelling ways you can update your graphics drivers. Though the manual process is quite challenging, following these steps will help you easily update your graphics drivers and enjoy the best of your computer’s in-built hardware.