How do I update the drivers on my computer?

It seems like a day doesn't go by where our
computer isn't politely urging us to please
install an update for something or other. While
most of these allow us to explore new features
in our music library or help software run with
more security, there's also the need to update
so your computer can run what you want,
period.
In a computer, a driver is a piece of software
that tells hardware how to run on a certain
operating system. That means your PC card,
DVD drive, video card and other hardware all
use drivers to make their operations work. If
you're using your computer right now, you
probably have a ton of drivers already installed
and working.
That's one of the reasons, in fact, that people
don't know that much about drivers. Whenever
Windows or Mac has an update, the drivers are
generally installed along with it; you don't even
realize you're getting a fancy new way for your
hardware to communicate as well. In general,
you don't need to fuss about whether or not to
update your drivers. While there are some
drivers that Windows doesn't automatically
update, they're by and large covered.
But how do you know when you need to
update your drivers? According to programmer
and writer Leo Notenboom, there's no reason
to update for the sake of updating. Instead,
decide to update using some common sense
signals [source: Notenboom ]. If you're having
issues with your hardware, checking for a
driver update is a great place to start
troubleshooting. If Windows or the software
itself tells you an update is available, it also
doesn't hurt to take it.
So let's upgrade ourselves a page and discover
how we can update any drivers that might need
our attention.