Computer Shopper 2019-11-01

106 NOVEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 381

Fix hardware problems

Out-of-date drivers and malfunctioning hardwarecan cause big

problems and slowdownyourcomputer.Here’swhatto lookoutfor

A

ny problems with hardwareinyour

computer cancause issues. Oneof

the biggest issues canbeheat,

particularly around the CPU.Every

processor is designed to run moreslowly

when it starts to overheat to prevent

damage. That’sgood fornot causing fatal

flaws, but it canmean that your computer

runs moreslowly than it should.

Using avacuum cleaner to suck dust out

of your computer’sfans, and dust filters if

fitted, is agood starting point. However,

youmay want to look at your computer’s

cooling system(next month’sAdvanced

Projectswill coverthis in detail).

Heat’snot the only issue: out-of-date

drivers cancause moreproblems than you

may think. Newerdrivers candotwo things.

First, theycan giveyou aspeed increase, as

manufacturers find moreefficientwaysof

doing things. Second, theycan fix bugs in

hardwarethat canlead to crashes.

Regularly checking your drivers and

updating them is agood plan. We

recommend doing this manually.Thereare

utilities that will automatically scan your

computer and tell youwhen there’s

updated hardware, but youeither haveto

pay forthe privilege, or youget software

that will bombardyou with ads or prompt

youtoinstall yetmoresoftware.

Update hardwaredrivers

Out-of-datehardwaredrivers cancause a

lotofproblems. At the worst, apoor driver

cancause instability.One of the biggest

culprits of this is Windows.When youinstall

or upgrade your computer,Microsoft will

oftendetect the hardwarethat you’reusing

and install its owndriver.That mightbe

good forconvenience, but Windows drivers

cancause reliability and speed issues.

We recommend going straighttothe

source and downloading drivers directly

from the manufacturer.Ifyou havea

big-brand PC or laptop, such as aDell, go to

that company’ssupport sitetodownload

the latest drivers foryour computer.

Foraspecialist companyorahome-build

PC, youwill need to go to afew different

places. First, youshould makealist of the

hardwareinside your computer,including

manufacturers and model numbers of the

devices. Include the motherboard, printer

and anyinternal expansion cards.

To getthis information, youmay need to

open up the side of your PC’scase and look

inside. Expansion cardsand motherboards

typically havethe model number written on

them, although youmay havetolook hard.

Armed with this information, youcan visit

each manufacturer in turn, finding the

support page foryour hardwareand then

downloading the latest drivers and utilities.

Boost graphics drivers

Graphics card manufacturers are

constantly upgrading their graphics

hardware, giving real speed improvements

in games. Successivedrivers canalso

improve systemstability.Staying on top

of the latest drivers manually is agood way

to ensurethe best performance.

ForNvidia graphics cards, go towww.

geforce.co.uk/driversand click Download

next to the Automatic Driver Updates box.

This will download an application that will

detect your hardwareand grab the latest

driver automatically.

ForAMD cards, go towww.amd.com/en/

supportand click the Download Nowbutton

under Automatically Detect and Install Your

Driver.This will perform asimilar auto-

detect routine to Nvidia’sapp and grab the

latest drivers foryour graphics card.

ABOVE:Yo ucan download the latest drivers foryour hardwaredirectly fromthe manufacturer’swebsite

ABOVE:The Nvidia and AMD websites both allowyou to update graphics card drivers automatically