You have probably never heard of device drivers, but without them, you would not be able to use your computer.
So picture your computer
— you can see the keyboard, the touchpad, the power button, maybe a fingerprint sensor, and a touchscreen. For all of that hardware to function (for the keyboard to actually put letters on the screen, for the mouse to actually move and click items, for your touchscreen to work), something has to bridge the gap between the physical components and the operating system. That something is called a device driver.
Device drivers are essentially the compatibility layer between a device's hardware and its software.
On Windows, the graphical interface for managing drivers is called Device Manager. It is accessible by right-clicking the Windows icon and selecting "Device Manager" from the pop-up menu, and it looks like this:
On the popular Linux distribution Ubuntu, the equivalent interface looks like this:
But we are just scratching the surface.
To recap: every piece of hardware on a system requires a driver to function as intended. This includes externally connected devices.
A good example is a printer — to use one, you first connect it to your system (laptop or desktop). In many cases, your operating system will automatically detect and install the necessary drivers for you. However, if it does not, you can manually download and install them from the manufacturer's website.
Unused Potential: Disabling and or Deleting Drivers
This brings me to a lesser-known but useful aspect of drivers. Just as you can download and install them, you can also disable or delete them. This might sound counterproductive at first, but there are situations where it becomes a practical solution.
A problem I recently encountered was my laptop's touchscreen registering phantom presses in one corner of the screen on its own. I had two options:
Option 1 — Pay to have it repaired, which is the best long-term solution.
Option 2 — Disable the touchscreen driver entirely to stop the erratic behavior.
Since the touchscreen is not essential to how I use my laptop, I chose to disable it. The names of all the drivers and how they affect your computer are available online, so it is advisable to search first and confirm that what you want to do is safe and achievable before proceeding.
Always remember that messing with the wrong drivers could have serious consequences, such as losing Wi-Fi connectivity or being unable to use your keyboard. That said, the choice is always yours to make based on your own needs and priorities.
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