What to download after installing Windows 7. What to do after installing Windows? Checking OS Windows activation

Sometimes, due to certain life circumstances, it is necessary to install an operating system. Quite often, users discover that the sound has disappeared after reinstalling the system.

The possibility of a situation where the sound disappeared after installing Windows 7, unfortunately, is far from uncommon. Fortunately, it can be solved quite simply if you know exactly the reason.

Possible reasons

There may be several reasons for the sound to disappear. The main ones are hardware errors, that is, a malfunction of the sound card. In this case, you cannot do without specialized help. Or there are problems in the software, and specifically, in the lack of drivers for the sound card.

If the problem is with hardware, then you are unlikely to be able to solve the problem without special equipment and skills. Solving software problems is much simpler and does not require special knowledge and skills. To do this, you just need to confidently use the computer and not be afraid of it.

Solutions options

So, if after installing Windows 7 there is no sound, then the first thing you need to do is check the connection of the audio system to the computer, and also that the audio system you are using is selected in the settings. The check is as follows:

If the audio system is turned on and in use, but there is still no sound, then the most likely reason why the sound may disappear is that after reinstalling Windows 7, the drivers for the sound card or audio device were not installed. This problem is not so terrible and quite easily solved.

Finding and installing drivers

There are several ways to return sound after reinstalling Windows; the easiest way is to install control program distributions from the media that comes with the device; it contains all the necessary drivers. But if it happens that there is no disk, you can install the drivers using standard Windows tools.

So, to convince the OS to reinstall the drivers, follow the path indicated in the address bar of Explorer: “ Control Panel» → « system and safety" → "". And select " device Manager».

After completing these steps, the following window will appear:

In the window that appears, select “ Sound, video and gaming devices" and from the list that opens, select the desired system by double-clicking on the name. A properties window will appear in which you need to select the “ Driver».

In this window, you need to select the Update... button, and in the window that appears, click on the item “ Automatically search for updated drivers" After this, Windows will begin to search for the program on the Internet and update or install it if such a need exists.

Manual installation

If the built-in Windows service tells you something like “The installed software for this device does not need to be updated,” this does not mean that you actually have it installed and do not need to be updated.

If you just installed the system, then there are no audio drivers there. But the system simply failed. Also, quite often the automatic update service cannot find the necessary software, in this case the direct path is to manually search and install the necessary programs.

To do this, the first thing you need to do is decide which sound card you have installed. If your card is integrated into the motherboard, then most likely it is from Realtek, which means that you need to go to the manufacturer’s website and download the necessary software there. Device Manager identifies built-in cards as High Definition Audio Device.

But since you may have another audio card, it’s better to find out which one in advance. To do this we follow Start, we find " Execute" and write in the search bar " dxdiag" and click OK.

In the window that appears, go to the “ Sound" (sound).

Line " Name"(name) will tell you what card you have installed. After that, feel free to go to the manufacturer’s website and download the latest version of the software for your card.

After installing the software, restart the computer and check for sound.

Using driver packs

If you have already tried everything, but after reinstalling Windows 7 the sound still does not work, then you have two options. The first is to take the computer to a service center or use specialized software to install drivers, for example. It is better to download it from the official website.

After launch, the program will diagnose the system and indicate those drivers that need to be updated. It will also select the software recommended for installation. Among other things, it will contain Avast And Yandex browser, if you don’t need this happiness for nothing, find the button at the bottom of the window Switch to expert mode and manually configure what should be installed.

Feel free to install all the recommended drivers, but here are the software and programs that DRP suggests deleting, better viewing and changing the settings to those that suit you. The program may remove something you need.

Windows 7 Sound Service Problems

Sometimes the drivers are really fine, but problems arise because the audio service does not start. First, try changing the system sound a couple of times:


Hardware problems

If all the previous methods did not bring the desired result, then most likely there are problems with the hardware. An audio card may fail due to the failure of some individual elements, and not the entire board as a whole. But this will not reassure owners of integrated cards at all. The built-in cards are not repairable, so if it fails, you will have to buy a discrete sound card.

Discrete cards, as a rule, can be repaired, but you should not try to repair this device yourself without the appropriate skills and equipment; most likely, you will only aggravate the situation and spend much more money than if you gave the card to professionals.

Reasons for refusal:

  • overheat;
  • burnout;
  • raw contacts;
  • broken conductors;
  • broken plugs;
  • loose soldering;
  • developer error or manufacturing defect.

To extend the life of your computer, clean it several times a year. This will allow the cooling system to perform its function most efficiently and problems such as overheating and damp contacts will most likely not affect you.

However, the lack of sound is not always a consequence of the fact that the audio card has failed. The first step is to check the functionality of the audio system; to do this, simply connect other speakers to the computer.

Also, cords can fail, replacing which is not difficult, this is especially true for headphones.

It is not always possible to determine at home without equipment whether the audio card has really failed or whether there is a problem with another device. Therefore, you should not panic right away; it is best to carry out diagnostics at a service center, and also update your computer software.

Video on the topic

PC users know what to do immediately after installing (reinstalling) Windows. Beginners tend to be confused. The initial setup of the computer is approximately as follows: sequences:

System update

This is the very first action that must be performed after installing the system.

Go to the control panel, find the update center and check for new updates. After downloading and installing new updates, reboot and repeat the procedure until all the latest updates are installed.

As a result, most hardware drivers will be installed, system stability will increase, and most security problems will be eliminated. True, lately there have been more and more problems with updates, but Microsoft is actively and quickly fixing them.

It is strictly not recommended to disable system updates!

Activation

Check if the system is activated. To do this, press the key combination "Win+Pause".

The window that appears will contain information whether activation has been completed or not.

Activation is a requirement of the OS manufacturer (Microsoft Corporation), which allows him to detect violations of the license agreement and find out whether compromised Is there a serial number for the system (has it been seen in use somewhere before). It is no secret that the activation key can be given, sold, stolen (downloaded).

If the system has problems with activation, the solution can be found in these articles:

Installation or driver update

To start working fully on your computer, you need to check the availability and performance drivers. A driver is a program that is responsible for the serviceability and connection of a specific device on a computer.

To get complete information about installed and missing drivers on your computer, you need to look for the inscription in the same system window where Windows was activated. "Device Manager ", and go along it.

A list of devices installed on the computer will open, where all problematic equipment that is not readable by the system due to the absence or mismatch of drivers will be indicated by an exclamation mark on a yellow background. But if everything is fine and the system has recognized all the devices, then you simply won’t see such “indicating signs”.

For problematic devices, you should also install or update the driver. This can be done using:

  • DVD (CD) disk included with the computer;
  • Specialized a driver update program (for example);
  • Searching for the required driver on the Internet.

For the video card, it is recommended to download and install the latest version from the manufacturer's official website. Even if Windows automatically installed the driver from the update center, the official version will give a significant performance boost in modern games and provide additional options for fine-tuning the video adapter

Ideally, only the latest versions of drivers should be installed on the computer.

Installing programs

Safety

In order not to pick up viruses while downloading programs necessary for your computer from the Internet, you should start the installation with an antivirus, which can be either paid or free. There is no consensus which one is better. So experiment, gain personal experience, but start with a free antivirus, functionality which is sometimes no worse than paid options. We can recommend Kaspersky antivirus, which has a free version for home use.

Job

Next, you need to install any archiver WinRar, 7-zip or Chinese HaoZip. There is a wide choice, but the best is still WinRar. On the download page you should select the Russian version and bit depth:

To read and edit text, you need to choose either the paid Microsoft Office package or the free equivalent of Open Office.

It's no secret that Ms Office is many times better than its free counterparts. Click the button below to download the Microsoft Office Professional Plus online installer. Just run the installer and wait for everything to download and install.

After installing Ms Office you need to activate !

In addition, software will be required to view the electronic content that meets the user's expectations. The most popular browsers are Google Chrome, Mozila Firefox, Yandex Browser, Opera. The best, in our opinion, is Chrome.

Multimedia

First you need to install codecs for comfortable viewing of video and listening to audio.

During installation, all parameters can be left as default. The kit includes Media Player Classic - a very simple and convenient player that plays almost any video and audio.

Of course, that's not all; the installation of utilities to satisfy a wide variety of PC user needs must be continued. In the future, you may need to defragment the hard drive, clean up startup, and take other steps to speed up your computer. But this is material for another article.

Today you can find quite a lot of users who at one time installed the eighth version of Windows instead of the popular “seven”, who for some reason are not satisfied with Windows 8. They begin to wonder how to install Windows 7 instead of Windows 8, believing that there will be no problems with the reverse transition. Alas, not everything is so simple here.

How to install Windows 7 instead of Windows 8: main problems

Unfortunately, problems begin to appear already in the very first stages of an attempt to replace the existing Eight with a lower version (in our case, Windows 7). They are connected, first of all, with the fact that these systems have different types of boot areas.

In Windows 7, the boot record is MBR, and in G8 it is GPT. In addition, new BIOS versions belonging to the UEFI class should be taken into account. It would seem that the most logical solution suggests itself: simply format the disk partition on which you want to install the “seven”, and that’s the end of it. But even here, not everything is as cloudless as it might seem at first glance.

Without changing the boot record standard, formatting will be impossible. In a sense, this situation can be compared to attempts to change a file system, for example NTFS to FAT32. As you know, FAT32 is not installed over NTFS in the standard way. But if here, when formatting, you can return to the outdated system, then in the case of boot records this will not give anything. And there’s also no need to say that you can restore Windows 8 to Windows 7, because the files of the old system are deleted automatically when installing a new version (this option appeared only in the “ten”, and only on condition that the installation data of the previous OS were not removed from the hard drive). Therefore, just in case, it is better to record in advance an image of the system (“eight”) and all data stored on disks or in logical partitions, but more on that later.

Setting boot modes in BIOS

However, it's not all bad. Indeed, you can install Windows 7 instead of 8, but first use some specific settings so that during the process of replacing the “OS” some kind of failure does not appear.

First, go to the BIOS settings at the very beginning of booting the computer terminal or laptop. Typically, the keys Del, F2, F12, and so on are used for such purposes (it all depends on the model of computer and laptop, as well as on the manufacturer and BIOS version).

Now we need to go to the Security menu (sometimes Boot) and disable Secure Boot mode (set the parameter to Disable). By the way, this mode is responsible for checking the bootloader certificate.

Further, preliminary configuration of the Windows installation cannot be done without entering the advanced settings section (Advanced), where you need to find the System Configuration line, and then set the Boot Mode parameter to CSM Boot or CMS OS instead of the initial UEFI OS parameter (UEFI Boot) . As is already clear, this directly concerns new BIOS versions.

Don't forget to set either a flash drive or CD/DVD-ROM as the priority boot device. Save the changes (by pressing F10).

Beginning the installation of Windows 7

Now a few words about the beginning of the “seven” installation process. Firstly, if the installation is performed from a flash drive, it must be inserted into the USB port before the computer terminal starts loading. Secondly, you only need to use USB 2.0 connectors. This is only due to the fact that the “seven” does not support working with the USB 3.0 interface.

We boot from the distribution media, select the initial language parameters, currency and time formats, as well as the language layout, after which we activate the installation process by pressing the appropriate button.

In the window that appears, from the installation type section, select full installation. Now the main difficulties begin.

Problems with hard drive partitions

So, we continue to consider the problem of how to install Windows 7 instead of Windows 8. At the next stage, the installer will ask you to select the partition into which our “OS” will be installed. Their number will be greater than in the standard form (this was the specificity of the G8 boot record).

In this case, we use the disk settings line and be sure to delete all partitions. If this is not done, the installer simply will not work further. You can also use the command line, called through the combination Shift + F10, where you need to enter the following commands in sequence:

Now you can set the disk partition or install Windows 7 in an unallocated area (whichever is more convenient for you). In principle, if you install the system in an unallocated area, conversion to MBR will occur automatically (that is, additional commands for conversion will not be required).

Basic installation process

After all the procedures described above (if they are performed correctly and in full), the standard “seven” installation is activated. Here you should pay attention to the fact that all information previously located on the hard drive or in the virtual partition will be destroyed.

Depending on the configuration of the computer or laptop, the period from complete installation to the first start may take different times. Nevertheless, the process itself, as practice shows, will end successfully, and no errors should occur.

Completing installation and checking partitions

Upon completion of the installation, the user receives a “clean” system. As a rule, setting up Windows at this stage in terms of configuring the main components occurs automatically.

For now, we are interested in checking the system for changes in boot parameters. To do this, we use the standard computer management menu, right-click on the section we are interested in and select the properties line. The new window has a “Volumes” tab, where the type of master boot record (MBR) will be presented in the main information.

Installing drivers

There shouldn’t be any problems with drivers either, because almost any Windows 7 driver file is installed automatically for most devices during initial setup.

As a last resort, for unsupported hardware, you can always use a special disk with drivers, supplied when purchasing a computer unit or laptop. At worst, you can go to the official website of the manufacturer of non-standard equipment and find there the latest version of the appropriate driver, designed specifically for Windows 7. You can download it either from another computer connected to the Internet, or after establishing a connection and setting up basic parameters on your own terminal.

As usual, you can identify non-functioning or incorrectly functioning devices in the “Device Manager”, where they are marked in yellow.

Using System Update

It goes without saying that, most likely, a completely clean system will be installed without any updates or additional service packs.

By default, in the “seven”, as well as in all other systems, Windows updates have an activated automatic mode. Thus, as soon as the computer terminal or laptop is connected to the Internet, the search for available updates and their installation will be carried out immediately.

If for some reason this does not happen, you just need to go to the Windows Update service and search for them manually, and then confirm integration into the system, again when the Windows update is installed automatically without user intervention.

Restoring the system to Windows 8

As for how to restore Windows to the previously present “eight”, you will need to use a previously created copy of the system in the form of an image, and if necessary, first reinstall Windows 8, and then transfer it from the same hard disk image file to the installed system all necessary data.

You can initially create such an image using standard G8 tools. This, for example, could be an archiving and recovery tool, or an additional utility like Recovery Media Creator. If you don’t like your own Windows programs, no problem - you can use the universal Acronis True Image utility.

Yes, and more. If the "seven" is installed incorrectly, re-installing Windows 8 can lead to the fact that, so to speak, the "eight" password will block Windows 7, even if you disable the boot options in the BIOS or even purchase a new licensed version of the "eight" (the key will simply have nowhere to go) enter, and the system will write that it does not match any image). So be careful.

Conclusion

Here, in fact, are the main points regarding how to install Windows 7 instead of Windows 8. Although the matter is complicated, nevertheless, if you show maximum attention and be patient, you can complete such a transition without any problems, the main thing is to complete all the preliminary actions so that there are no problems later.

It remains to add that now the answer to the question of which system can be characterized as “the best Windows” is difficult to voice, since each user has his own views and preferences. Some are so accustomed to the “seven” that they do not want to change it to a new OS. Others try to follow new developments and switch to the “ten”. It's just how you like it.

Hello, friends!

Finding and installing drivers is a real headache for many novice PC users.

In this article, we will look at several examples of where and how to look for drivers for your computer or laptop.

Most often, the problem with finding drivers occurs after reinstalling the Windows operating system. I wrote about how to reinstall the Windows system using a disk in this article, installing Windows from a flash drive here

How do I know which devices need drivers installed? To do this, right-click on the computer icon → select the properties tab → Device Manager.

In this example, all drivers are installed correctly and work correctly. If one of the items shows a question mark, then we will need to search for a driver for this device.

Usually, when you purchase a laptop or assembled computer, it comes with a disk with the necessary drivers and utilities. The laptop comes with one disk with all the drivers, and the computer separately; Usually these are drivers for the chipset, video card, sound card driver, lan..etc. Everything is simple here, install the disk and start installing the necessary drivers.

Before searching for device drivers for your system, I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the five ironclad rules for installing drivers. If there is no driver disk, use method 2.

Download drivers from the manufacturer's official website

Let's look at the example of the Asus K42f laptop. Go to the official Asus website and enter this model in the search. Select the tab → download and indicate your operating system (you can find out the system by going to → My Computer → (rpm) → Properties).

We are looking for all the necessary drivers. The most important drivers are Chipset, Sound, VGA, LAN (network) drivers, etc. If this method does not help, use the next, third method.

Search for a driver by device code.

Let's go back to Device Manager. Computer → pkm → Properties. Let's say we don't have an audio controller driver...see the picture.

Right-click on it and select → properties. In the open window, select the “Information” tab, and in the drop-down menu you need to select → “Hardware ID” (in Windows XP “Device Instance Code”).

An example of such code is VEN_8086&DEV_0046. Select it with the left key and copy it by pressing the key combination Ctrl + C. Now go to the website www.devid.info In the search field, paste (Ctrl + V) the copied code. Click “Ok”, after which a list of drivers for this device will appear → download and install. It didn’t work → use the 4th method.

Driver update program DriverPack Solution

This is a fairly popular driver update and search program. The main advantage of the program is the ability to install fresh drivers in the absence of the Internet. For more information, see the program website. Link to the official website http://drp.su/ru/. That's all for today. See you in new articles. Don't forget to subscribe to blog updates. Good luck!

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What to do after installing windows? Installing programs | Healthy

We bought a brand new laptop or assembled a computer, installed Windows and... What's next? We went to the desktop, and there was only the Recycle Bin. Even if you bought a laptop with Windows already installed, you still need to configure and install other programs. For what? To improve the performance of your device.

Everyone should have a list of programs that need to be installed immediately after installing the operating system. Here I have prepared my list. The programs below are suitable for any version of windows (XP, 7, 8 or 10). But first of all, you need to understand the drivers.

For those who have a pirated version! First of all, turn off the Firewall and Windows Update - they are located in the Control Panel. Then activate windows.

1. Drivers

Drivers (firewood) are programs that are responsible for connecting and proper operation of devices in a computer or laptop. For example: the webcam will not work without a specific driver, the monitor will distort the image (stretch, use the wrong resolution), there will be no Wi-Fi, etc.

The first step is to check what is installed and what is not. Many people have pirated versions of Windows, and many people also buy laptops with DOS (without an operating system installed) and then install pirated ones. Even when it’s a clean, licensed Windows, you still need to install drivers. In all cases, you need to install drivers :) First, check which are installed and which are not, for this: RMB on the “My Computer” > “Properties” > “Device Manager” shortcut.

If you have all the drivers installed, you will see something like this.

If a driver is not installed, a yellow exclamation mark will appear next to it.

There are three ways to install drivers:

from the manufacturer's official website. For example, if the laptop is ASUS, then you need to search on the website asus.com;

from the disk that came with the kit (if there was one);

using Driver Pack Solution.

Some drivers may be automatically installed as standard ones, which we do not need. For example, a standard driver may be installed on a video card and then it will not work at full capacity, which will affect the graphics in games or when working in serious photo or video editors.

The best way to install drivers is to download from a disk (if it was in the box) or from the official website. Each driver is installed separately. The included disc usually contains drivers for only one version of Windows. The best and optimal solution is to go to the manufacturer’s official website, find the driver in the “Support” menu, select your version of Windows and install from there. This way, you will get maximum efficiency and performance from your device. Rule: always download and install drivers from the manufacturer’s official website.

The third option, Driver Pack Solution, is suitable if you need to install firewood quickly and without unnecessary fuss. The link is working, the program is free. It searches for and installs drivers itself, regardless of the laptop model or computer build. Download, install, make a couple of clicks and all the drivers are installed in 5-10 minutes. DRP can also install additional programs - Yandex.Browser, Firefox, PotPlayer..., by unchecking the checkboxes you can cancel their installation. + if you have a whole Pack (which weighs about 10 GB), then you can install drivers without the Internet - this is very convenient, since even a standard driver for the Internet or Wi-Fi will not be installed on a clean Windows and you will not be able to access official site. Then, it will be possible to install firewood from the office. site.

Driver Pack Solution must be run immediately after installing windows to prevent the installation of standard drivers, as in the photo below.

Moreover, the yellow sign may not always be displayed. If there is the word “Standard”, then the driver needs to be reinstalled. Ideally, everything is like this.

That is, the name of the driver must be the same as the name and version of the device.

2.Microsoft Office

A set of office programs is always needed. Well-known Word, Excel, Power Point, Access. If you don’t have a license or haven’t found a pirated version, I can recommend a free alternative – Open Office.

3. Antivirus

To install it, you need to set up an Internet connection or connect to Wi-Fi (fortunately, many people now have it at home). If for some reason there is no Internet, then you need to download the antivirus to a flash drive from a friend and install it from it.

About antiviruses. There are paid and free ones. The leaders among paid ones are antiviruses from Kaspersky, Eset, Dr. Web. Among the free ones are Comodo, Avira, Avast. I have the free Comodo Internet Security, which fully copes with its functions. If you have extra money, buy a paid antivirus for a year. But protection must be mandatory.

4. Browser

Google Chrome, Opera or Mozilla. You download one of them from Microsoft Internet Explorer and set it as your default browser. Personally, I install Chrome.

5. Archiver

There are WinRar, WinZip (paid) and 7-zip (free). I always install 7-zip, it reads all formats, there were no problems.

6. Codec

Needed for correct playback of video and audio formats (so you can watch any movie or video in any format). You can download it here, it's free. The codec comes with an MPC-HC (Media Player Classic Home Cinema) player. There is, of course, a standard Windows player, but, to be honest, it doesn’t mean anything at all.

7. Bootloader

uTorrent or Download Master. Most people download via Torrent, but I also left a link to Download Master, in case someone needs it.

8. Reader

9. Skype

Skype. A program for communicating with other people around the world.

10. Flash Player

Flash Player. Responsible for playing animation, video, graphics on the Internet (including YouTube) and for the ability to play online games. If you have a Google Chrome browser, then you do not need to download this.

11. Daemon Tools

Daemon Tools is a CD/DVD drive emulator program (iso format). Simulates the presence of a disk in the drive when it is absent. It is actively used by gamers to install pirated versions of games. If you intend to play games, you definitely need to download them. + some programs are also installed via emulators.

12.DirectX

Responsible for graphics, video and 3D. This is especially true in games. There are different versions.

Additionally

And now a couple more interesting programs for advanced users.

Adobe Photoshop. The most mega super-duper photo editor and more. If you search on the Internet, you can find and install it for free.

Free Studio. A set of programs for converting various files (for example, from video in .avi format to .mp4 format), recording monitor screens, quickly editing video and audio, downloading videos from YouTube and photos from Instagram. A very useful set.

Picasa. A convenient program for viewing and quickly editing photos. Support has already been discontinued and new versions are not being released, but for those who are used to it and who like this program, I left a link.

Stamina. A keyboard simulator will help you master the touch typing method. I wrote more about how to learn to touch type here.

VirtualBox. This is a program that will allow you to have two operating systems on one computer. For example, you can install Windows 7 as the main one and Windows 10 as the secondary one (or Linux). The program completely virtualizes the presence of a second OS.

That's all. If you have any questions or I forgot to indicate some other cool and useful program - write in the comments :)

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What to do after installing windows?

After installing Windows 7 on a laptop, some users do not know what to do next. Or more precisely, how to configure Windows 7 after reinstallation. Personally, I have a habit, or, more precisely, an action plan, which is automatically executed after the next reinstallation of the operating system. Therefore, if you don’t know what to do after installing Windows, then perhaps this article will be extremely useful for you.

As an example, we show how Windows 7 is configured after installation. Although similar steps can be performed on Windows 10, 8, 8.1.

Operating system activation

First of all, you need to check the activation of windows. To do this, right-click on the “My Computer” icon and open “Properties”. A new window will appear - scroll down and look at the “Windows Activation” field.

There can be only 2 options here: either the operating system is activated or not. In the latter case, it will be written that windows is valid for 30 days. And during this period you need to activate it.

The product code is indicated on the disk or on a special card if you purchased a PC with the OS installed. If you bought a digital copy of Windows, then look for the code in the email.

Installing drivers

Typically, Windows 7 independently finds and installs drivers for the Internet, sound, etc. But not always. Therefore, if you do not have access to the Internet or sound, find them at the office. manufacturer's website.

How to find out which drivers are installed and which are not? To do this, go to: Start - Control Panel - Device Manager.

Unidentified devices for which Windows 7 did not find a driver will display yellow exclamation marks. That is, in this case you need to find and install them yourself.

And one more nuance that you need to know. Windows 7 installs a standard VGA driver on the video card. But it is not suitable for normal operation. Therefore, you need to find the latest version of it on the official website of the manufacturer.

Read more about this here:

How to install drivers on an Nvidia GeForce video card?

How to install AMD drivers correctly?

If you don’t know what kind of video card you have, then I recommend reading – How to determine the model of a video card?

Alternatively, you can use one of the special programs. In this case, it will find and install everything itself, and you won’t have to do anything manually. More information about them can be found here: Free programs for searching and installing drivers.

Disabling automatic updates in windows 7

I disable this feature first. Firstly, it is annoying, since updates pop up almost every day. Secondly, I don't need it.

Decide for yourself whether to disable this function or not. Here, each user determines at his own discretion whether he needs it or not.

Read more about this here - How to disable the installation of updates on Windows 7?

Setting up a power plan

An important point for laptop owners. Although you can also configure a power plan on your computer.

The default option is Balanced. If your computer is a gaming computer, or vice versa, it is too weak, you can enable the “High Performance” mode. To extend the laptop's battery life, there is an "Energy Saver" option. But performance in this case will be reduced.

You can also configure when to turn off the display and put the computer into sleep mode. To do this, go to Start – Control Panel – Power Options.

And in the new window, click on the line “Setting up a power plan” and select the desired option (you can also select “Never” here).

Read more about this here - Setting up the laptop power supply.

Setting up Windows 7 after reinstallation

After this you need to configure Windows 7:



This is how you can configure Windows 7 after reinstallation. But that is not all. There is one more important point left.

Installing programs

After the initial setup of Windows 7 has been completed, you need to install the programs. First of all, antivirus. You may also need:

  • new browser;
  • video and audio player;
  • Microsoft Office package;
  • video and audio codecs, etc.

Read more about this here - What programs are needed for Windows 7?

That's it now. You were able to customize windows after reinstalling, and now it looks much nicer. Yes, and it works faster. As you can see, setting up the operating system is not difficult.

And if you suddenly decide to reinstall it again, then now you already know what to do after installing Windows 7, right?

P.S. After setting up Windows and installing all programs, it is recommended to create an image of a working version of the operating system. So that if something happens, you can quickly restore it. This can be done using special programs or by creating a restore point in Windows.

It is also recommended to enable System Restore for all local drives (C, D, E). For what? If you suddenly accidentally delete important files, then thanks to this function you can easily restore them. Read more about this here – How to recover deleted files on your computer?

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How to install drivers on a laptop

This guide is suitable for most laptops with Windows XP, 7, 8, 10. If you have a desktop computer, then the article “How to install drivers on a computer” is better for you.

A driver is a special program that is necessary for each computer or laptop device to operate. Such devices include the chipset (control circuit) of the motherboard, sound card, network card, video card, disk controllers, etc.

Windows contains many drivers for various devices necessary for the initial installation and launch of the operating system. But usually they are simplified and outdated, and some modern devices are not detected and do not work at all. Therefore, after installing Windows, the first thing you need to do is install all the necessary drivers.

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2. Installing drivers from disk

If the laptop came with a disk with drivers for the required version of Windows, then the easiest way is to install the drivers from it.

Place the disc in the drive and wait until the installation menu appears. In Windows 8, a message appears in the upper right corner that you need to click on.

Then you need to confirm the launch of the installation program.

If the menu does not appear, then open the disk in Explorer and run the installation file (autorun.exe, setup.exe or similar).

The installation menu may look different, but the meaning is the same.

Often the installation program itself determines which drivers need to be installed on the laptop. Sometimes you need to check the boxes manually and click the “Install” button or something similar.

After this, the sequential installation of all drivers will begin. During the installation process, various messages may appear where you will need to confirm the installation of some components. To install some of them, downloading from the Internet may be suggested. Agree with all the installation program's suggestions, otherwise some drivers may not install.

The laptop may reboot multiple times during installation. After a reboot, the installation should continue automatically, sometimes in stealth mode. Do not remove the installation disc and wait for the message that all drivers are installed.

If nothing happens on the screen for 15-30 minutes, then pay attention to the hard drive indicator. If the light is on or flashes rapidly, the installation is still in progress. You can also launch the task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) and find the driver installer in the list of running processes; if it takes up processor resources, then the installation is still in progress.

The screenshot below shows the installation of the IDT PC Audio sound card driver by the HP Software Setup program.

There may also be various programs and utilities on the disk, but usually they are not particularly necessary and they only slow down the computer. Therefore, I recommend installing only what you really need and know how to use it. It’s better to first look for information on the Internet about why this or that program is needed.

3. If there is no installer on the disk

Sometimes disks with drivers for laptops do not contain a general installation program that determines the hardware configuration and offers only the necessary drivers for installation. Also on the disk there may be hundreds of drivers for various laptops from the same manufacturer. Do not try to install everything in a row or at random, as this can lead to various problems. In this case, you can try installing drivers through Device Manager.

4. Login to “Device Manager”

There are several ways to access Device Manager.

4.1. "Device Manager" in Windows 7 and XP

Right-click the Computer icon on your desktop or START menu and select Manage.

Then go to the "Device Manager" section.

4.2. "Device Manager" in Windows 8.1

Right-click on the Windows icon in the lower left corner of your desktop and select Device Manager.

5. Installing drivers in Device Manager

If there are icons with an exclamation point in the Other Devices section, it means that the driver for this device is not installed.

If icons with an exclamation point are in other sections, this means that the driver is installed, but it probably did not fit and the device does not work.

Right-click on the first device without a driver and select “Update Drivers...”.

Then “Search for driver software on this computer.”

Click the Browse button, select your driver disk and click Next.

If a suitable driver is found on the disk, it will be installed and the device should disappear from the list of unidentified devices in the device manager.

Install drivers for all other devices with an exclamation mark in the same way.

6. If the laptop does not have a DVD drive

If the laptop does not have a DVD drive, then a driver disc is usually not included in the kit. But if you still have a disk, then you can copy files from it to a flash drive on another computer and install drivers from this flash drive using the installation program or manually through the “Device Manager”, as described above.

If you don’t have a suitable flash drive, then it’s time to get one.

Sandisk Cruzer

Sometimes drivers may be in a separate folder on the laptop disk. Carefully review the contents of the hard drive in Explorer and take care of the continued safety of the folder with drivers. You can install drivers from this folder by running the installation program for each driver one by one, or manually from the Task Manager, specifying the folder with drivers instead of the CD.

But keep in mind that the drivers may not be suitable for your version of Windows. Be guided by the names of folders and files; they often contain a mention of the version of Windows for which the drivers are intended.

7. Download drivers from the manufacturer’s website

If you do not have drivers for your laptop, then the best option is to download them from the official website of the laptop manufacturer. To do this, you will need the full model of the laptop (sometimes the serial number) and the devices for which you need to download drivers.

7.1. Determining the laptop model

The laptop model and serial number are indicated on the label on the bottom cover or under the battery, on the laptop box and in the BIOS.

You can also find out this data using the “HWiNFO” program, which you can download at the end of the article in the “Links” section.

7.2. Device Definition

With laptops, unlike desktop computers, there is one caveat. The fact is that laptops from the same series can be equipped with different video cards, network adapters, Wi-Fi modules, Bluetooth, etc. When searching for drivers on the manufacturer's website, you will be offered a list of drivers for all devices that were installed in laptops of the same series.

To download the correct drivers, you will need to determine which devices are installed in your laptop. The easiest way to do this is using the “Unknown Device Identifier” utility, which you can download in the “Links” section.

You need to carefully scroll through the entire list and write down the device models. To do this, you need to analyze the text for known devices and manufacturers. Below I will describe the types of devices, and in brackets the most popular manufacturers.

CardReader card reader for reading memory cards (Realtek)
Ethernet network card (Realtek)
WiFi Wi-Fi adapter (Intel, Qualcomm Atheros, Broadcom, Mediatek)
Bluetooth Bluetooth adapter (Intel, Qualcomm Atheros, Broadcom, Mediatek)
Graphics Controller video card, maybe two - one integrated into the processor (Intel, AMD), the second discrete (nVidia, AMD)
HD Audio Controller audio card, maybe two - the main one for outputting sound to speakers (Realtek, Analog Devices, IDT) and an additional one for outputting sound to the HDMI connector (Intel)
SATA Controller disk controller, may be included in the driver kit for the chipset (Intel) or supplied separately (AMD)
USB 3 USB 3 controller (Intel, Realtek)
Chipset various system devices, drivers for which are included in the driver package for chipsets (Intel, AMD)

The most important thing is the model of network card, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters, as they can be different. As for chipset devices, there is no need to write them down; if you have an Intel processor, then the chipset is also Intel, if you have an AMD processor, then the AMD chipset. If you know what manufacturer your discrete video card is (Intel or AMD), then this is also sufficient. Laptops often have stickers that make it easy to identify the manufacturer of the processor and video card.

Now you need to download the necessary drivers.

7.3. Downloading drivers

Go to the laptop manufacturer's support site and enter its model (sometimes serial number) into the search field. You can download the list of sites at the end of the article in the “Links” section.

As an example, I will show you how to find and download drivers for an HP laptop. Follow the link to the site and enter the laptop model in the search field.

Select your windows version.

After this, a list of all available drivers should be displayed. Scroll through it sequentially from top to bottom and download those drivers that suit you.

The first section in our case is the driver for the sound card.

There is only one driver here, so we download it.

The next section of the driver for the video card.

If the processor has an integrated video card from Intel (Core i3-i7, Pentium, Atom) or AMD (A4-A10), then we download the driver for it in any case. We have just such an Intel Core i5 processor. If your laptop has a discrete video card (nVidia or AMD), then download the driver for it as well.

The next section of the driver for input devices, which includes a touchpad (touchpad instead of a mouse), a keyboard with hot keys (Hotkey) for adjusting volume, brightness, etc., a fingerprint scanner.

Please note that in this case there are several versions of each driver (latest and previous), in addition, somewhere the names are indicated in Russian, and somewhere the same is in English. I recommend downloading the latest drivers, they are usually higher than the previous ones.

The version and its release date are indicated in the “Current Version” column. To determine drivers for the same device, compare the English and Russian driver names. You can also navigate by the “Previous Version” and “Size” columns. The size between different versions of the same driver should not differ much.

Usually you need to download drivers for the touchpad and hotkey support. In our case, these are 3 files, since there is also a separate driver for the Wi-Fi on/off button. I decided not to download the driver for the fingerprint scanner, since I don’t plan to use it.

The next section is the driver for the chipset.

Here we see two driver packages, the name and size of which are very different. So you need to download both. If suddenly this section contains drivers for different chipsets (Intel and AMD), then download only those that match your processor (Intel or AMD).

The next section of the driver for drives.

There is a driver for our Realtek card reader, a 3D DriverGuard utility to protect the drive from shock, and an Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver to improve the performance of the disk controller. I recommend downloading all this.

The largest and most complex section with drivers for network adapters.

You would not have figured out what to download if you had not determined in advance what devices are installed in your laptop. But we did it and all that remains is to find the models we need. Of the 17 drivers presented in this section, we only need 3:

  • driver for Wi-Fi adapters Qualcomm Atheros QCA9000 series
  • driver for Bluetooth adapters Qualcomm Atheros QCA9000 series
  • driver for Realtek network card

Please note that the serial number is often indicated rather than the specific adapter model. You can determine that the driver is suitable by one or two first digits. A driver for a wired network card can be easily identified by the word Ethernet in the name. Please note that there may also be several versions of the same driver here. Download the first (which is higher) driver, and skip the next (which is lower) for the same device.

Next BIOS section.

This is not a driver, but firmware for your laptop. If you decide to change the operating system, but it does not install, then download the latest BIOS version for your laptop, copy the file to a flash drive, go to the BIOS Setup program and use the function of updating the BIOS from a flash drive. Sometimes this helps solve some other problems.

The next section is updating the operating system.

Download the files available here, you will need to install them first, as they solve some problems typical for specific laptop models, improve stability, security and performance.

The next section is software.

These are various optional utilities that are not required for the laptop to function. They add features that are rarely used and only slow down the system. Don't download too much. If you want to figure it out, first search the Internet for what it is needed for.

But it’s not for nothing that I singled out one utility called “HP Software Package Download Manager”, also called “HP SoftPaq Download Manager” in English. This list contains its new and old version. This utility itself determines which devices are installed on your laptop and offers to install drivers and software for them. But in order to use it correctly, you need to know everything that we just talked about. We'll talk about this utility a little later, but now we'll look at the procedure for installing drivers.

8. Driver installation procedure

Installing drivers is much easier than searching for them. It is enough to run each installation file sequentially and click the “Next” button several times, as when installing any program.

But there are often various problems with driver compatibility on laptops. To avoid them, it is advisable to follow the following installation procedure.

  • Windows updates (your version)*
  • Chipset drivers (Intel or AMD)*
  • Disk controller driver (SATA/AHCI/RAID Controller)*
  • Integrated graphics card (Intel or AMD)*
  • Discrete graphics card (nVidia or AMD)*
  • Sound card (Realtek, Analog Devices, IDT)
  • Network card (Ethernet)
  • Bluetooth adapter (Intel, Qualcomm Atheros, Broadcom, Mediatek)*
  • Wi-Fi adapter (Intel, Qualcomm Atheros, Broadcom, Mediatek)
  • USB 3 controller
  • Card reader (Realtek)
  • Webcam
  • Touchpad Utility (Mouse Driver (Synaptics))
  • Keyboard utility (Hotkey support)
  • Drive Shock Protection Utility (3D DriveGuard)
  • Other necessary utilities**

* Drivers are marked with an asterisk, after installation of which it is advisable to reboot the laptop.

** I recommend not installing utilities that you will not use (for a fingerprint scanner, anti-theft protection, disk encryption, network diagnostics, etc.), as well as those whose purpose you do not understand. Before installing anything, it is advisable to search for information about it on the Internet, since various problems are possible, including permanent blocking of the laptop.

I recommend backing up your system and personal files to an external drive. Not only will you be able to quickly restore the system in the event of a failure, but you will also save your valuable documents, photos and videos. TS500GSJ25 TS1TSJ25

9. Branded utilities for installing drivers

Popular laptop manufacturers have proprietary utilities for searching and installing drivers. They determine what devices are installed on the laptop and offer to install drivers and utilities for them. But you will have to choose what exactly to install, so the knowledge gained in the previous sections of the article will not be superfluous. You can download the utilities using the list of manufacturers in the “Links” section.

All these utilities work similarly. As an example, we will look at the utility for HP laptops - “HP SoftPaq Download Manager”. After launching, it automatically detects the laptop model, Windows version, scans the equipment, and searches for suitable drivers and programs on the server. This process may take 1-5 minutes, after which you will be offered a list of all applicable drivers and programs to download and install.

Check the boxes next to the required components and click “Install”. Choose carefully; you don’t need to install everything or the purpose of which you don’t understand.

Please note that this list may contain multiple versions of the same driver or program. To compare, sort the list by "Name" and select the latest version by release date.

The "Priority" column indicates the importance of the component:

The “Category” column indicates the component type:

I advise you to select all critical updates (Critical), regular drivers (Routine – Driver) and recommended drivers (Recommended – Driver). Recommended - Software is usually not necessary.

Take special care with components that have the word “Security” in their name or category. I do not recommend installing and experimenting with this for novice users, as your laptop may be locked PERMANENTLY!

This program also allows you to download drivers for any other HP laptop. To do this, you can use one of the additional tabs.

The “Show all products” tab allows you to download all available files for a specific laptop model, and the “Driver Pack Build” tab allows you to download only drivers, but for all models of a certain series.

10. Third-party utilities for installing drivers

Utilities for desktop computers, such as Driver Pack Solution Online, are not suitable for installing drivers on laptops; they do not detect all drivers. One of the best programs that is suitable for laptops is “IObit Driver Booster”. You can download it in the “Links” section.

After launch, the program automatically scans the laptop and offers drivers available in the Internet database for installation. All you have to do is click on the “Update All” button and the program will do everything itself. And she does it incomparably!

The entire driver package takes up a small amount of space and is downloaded very quickly in one stream. I downloaded 19 drivers with a total volume of about 350 MB in just 6 minutes! The Internet channel speed was 10 Mbit/s and downloading occurred at full speed. Installing all the drivers is also a continuous process and took me another 6 minutes. In total, it took only 12 minutes to download and install all the drivers! This is an incredible achievement compared to other programs where downloading and installing drivers can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

I would like to especially note the beautiful and well-designed interface. The program is in Russian, the models and manufacturers of all devices are identified very correctly. You can view additional information about each device and its driver by clicking on the link next to its name.

The only drawback of the program is that it does not always install the utilities needed to support advanced keyboard and touchpad functions.

If you know other good ways or programs to install drivers, please share them in the comments!

Below you can download all the files that were mentioned in the article.

Hello dear visitors. After installing the operating system, in most cases this is Windows 7, the question arises, what to do next, what needs to be configured and installed? I can’t even count how many times I’ve installed Windows 7 and I’ve already developed a habit whereby I set up the newly installed operating system and install the essentials that an average user needs.

Now I will tell you what you need to do first after installing the Windows 7 operating system.

So, you, everything works, everything is loaded, now let's start setting it up.

Activate the operating system.

First of all you need Activate Windows 7. It doesn't matter how you do it, the main thing is to do it :). So that after thirty days the operating system does not start issuing activation warnings. Of course, it all depends on what you choose. It may be that immediately after installation, Windows 7 is automatically activated.

Right-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. At the bottom of the page there will be information on activating the OS. If you see the message that Windows 7 is activated, then everything is ok, you can move on to another item.

Well, if you see messages like “XX days left. to complete the activation." Then you need to activate the operating system. I think you know how to do it :). There should be no problems activating Windows 7 now.

And one more thing, if a computer “wizard” installs your operating system, be sure to check whether it is activated. I have seen cases where no one activates anything, probably in order to get a client again after 30 days.

I also turn it off, but this is optional.

Checking and installing drivers.

Then I check if all drivers are installed on the system. Based on my observations, I can say that in Windows 7, problems most often arise with the video adapter (video card) driver. If the system itself was unable to select a driver for the video, then this is immediately noticeable. The quality of the picture on the screen is not very good, everything is big and there is no Aero effect (no transparent elements).

In order to check which drivers are installed and which devices are not recognized, you need to go to the device manager.

Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties. In the window that opens, go to “Device Manager”.

If everything is normal, and all devices are recognized by the system, then you will see something like this:

If there are unidentified devices, or problems with some drivers, they will be displayed with yellow exclamation marks.

If you have such problematic devices, then you just need to install the driver from the disk that came with your computer. Or download the driver from the manufacturer's website.

One small nuance, it may happen (more precisely, it almost always happens) that Windows 7 will install a standard driver for the video adapter. It will not show up as an unidentified device. But in this case, your video card will not work at its full capacity. Therefore, you definitely need to install the video driver from the disk, or again download it from the manufacturer’s website.

In laptops, I also noticed problems with drivers for LAN, WLAN, etc. All of them can be installed without problems from the disk that comes with the laptop.

Install antivirus.

After you have figured out the drivers, it is advisable to install an antivirus. Which one should I install? Whatever you want, I install NOD 32, I like it the most. After installation, the antivirus also needs to be activated and updated. The keys can be easily found on the Internet.

Browser and Flash Player.

If the computer is connected, or will connect to the Internet, then you need to install a browser. For example, I prefer Opera, but you can install your favorite one. In principle, Windows has a standard Internet, but you won’t get far with it :).

In order to play video on websites and listen to music on VKontakte, you need. You can download it from the official website http://get. adobe. com/ru/flashplayer.

Installing additional programs.

Next I install the Microsoft Office package, everyone needs it. If you do not want to buy such an expensive product, and do not want to use an unlicensed product, you can install OpenOffice, it is a free, worthy replacement for Microsoft Office.

Multimedia.

The standard Windows Media Player cannot play all video and audio file formats. Therefore, I immediately advise you to install a replacement for it. I install AIMP to play music, and KMPlayer to play video. These two programs do an excellent job, at least I have never had any problems with them. You can download them from the Internet, it won’t be difficult.

So this means: The operating system is activated, the drivers are installed, the antivirus is running, documents, videos and music open. Well, that's all, now we have a fully working and configured computer.

Perhaps you can still speed it up a little.

To do this, you can defragment the disk and clean the startup list, I already wrote about this. Good luck!



 

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