How are computer drivers classified?

first, what is the driver

According to Baidu Encyclopedia: driver, English name is "Device Driver", all called "Device Driver", is a kind of special program that can make computer and equipment communicate, can say the interface of hardware, the operating system can control the work of hardware equipment only through this interface, If a device driver is not properly installed, it will not work properly. Therefore, the driver is known as "the soul of the Hardware", "The Master of Hardware", and "hardware and the bridge between the system" and so on.

A newly installed system is likely to be installed with incomplete drivers. The newer the hardware, the greater the likelihood. The "Big and ugly" icons that were previously observed by the vegetable bear did not cause the driver to be properly installed.

　　Second, the role of the driver program

Following the rapid development of electronic technology, the ability of computer hardware is more and more powerful. A driver is a software that works directly on a variety of hardware devices, and its "driver" name is also a very vivid indication of its function. It is through the driver program, all kinds of hardware equipment can operate normally, to achieve the established work effect.

The hardware may be missing the driver "driver", when the original ability is very very powerful hardware can not be issued according to the instructions of the software to work, hardware can be empty a skill is not based on play, no use. At this time, the computer just as the Ancients said "everything is ready, only the east wind," The role of the "Dongfeng" fell on the driver. So it seems that the driver really plays a pivotal role in the use of computers.

In theory, all hardware devices will have to install the appropriate driver to work properly. But such as CPU, memory, motherboard, floppy drive, keyboard, monitor and other devices do not have to install the driver can also work, and graphics cards, sound cards, network cards, etc., but must install the driver, otherwise it will not be able to work properly. What is this for?

This is mainly because these hardware are necessary for a personal computer, so early designers used these hardware as hardware that the BIOS can directly support. In other words, the hardware is installed and can be directly supported by the BIOS and the operating system without the driver being installed. From this perspective, the BIOS is also a driver. But for other hardware, such as: Network card, sound card, video card and so on, but must install the driver, otherwise these hardware will not be able to work properly.

　　Third, the definition of the driver program

The driver can be defined as the official version, the Microsoft WHQL Witness, the third party driver, the enthusiast modified version, and the beta test version.

1. Official Official edition

Official version of the driver is based on the design of the chip manufacturers developed, through repeated testing, correction, and finally through the official channel published by the official version of the driver, also known as the public version of the driver. The general official version of the publication, including the official website and hardware products included with the CD-ROM of the two ways. Stability, good compatibility is the official official version of the biggest driver of the bright spot, but also different from the fans modified version and the test version of the salient features. So it is recommended that ordinary netizens use the official version, while those who prefer a taste of taste and individuality are recommended to use a modified version of the enthusiast and a beta test.

2, Microsoft WHQL Witness version

WHQL is the abbreviation of Windows Hardware Quality Labs, a testament to Microsoft's drive for hardware vendors, designed to test the compatibility and stability of the driver with the operating system. It can also be said that the driver that passed the WHQL witness basically does not have the compatibility question with the Windows system.

3. Third-party driver

Third-party drivers are the drivers that are advertised by the OEM manufacturer of the hardware products based on the official driver optimization. Third-party drivers have the features of stability and compatibility, based on the official version of the driver optimization and have a very strong overall capability and a very robust performance than the official version. Therefore, for the brand-name computer users, the author recommended the preferred driver is the third party driver, the second is the official version of the driver; For the assembly machine users, Third-party-driven choice may be more complex, so the official version of the driver is still preferred.

4, Enthusiasts modified version

Enthusiasts make the author of the 1th step Lenovo to the graphics card, this is why? Because enthusiasts have always been used to describe game enthusiasts. The author of this idea is exactly the same with the birth of the fan modified version of the allusion, because the fan modified version of the driver can first appear in the graphics driver, because many enthusiasts of the game, the ability of the graphics card can be very high expectations, At this time the manufacturer announced that the graphics driver is often not able to meet the needs of game enthusiasts, so modified to meet the game enthusiasts a lot of functional needs of the graphics driver has emerged. Now, the fan modified version driver is also called the revised driver, refers to the modified driver, and does not specifically refer to the modified driver.

5, beta test version

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Beta driver is a driver that is in the beta phase and has not been officially advertised. The next drivers tend to have less stability and less compatibility with the system. Taste and risk always exist at the same time, so for users who use the beta test version to do the psychological preparation of failure.