If you’ve recently made the switch to Windows Vista you may already know some of your hardware will require driver updates not found on the Vista CD. If you’re luck, Vista will install a general driver so you’re device will at least run, but for optimal performance and stability, you’ll want to poke around the device manufacturers website to see if they have Vista drivers available for download.
Once you’ve installed Vista bring up the Device Manager (Windows Logo, Search, type “device”) and check to make sure that Vista found all your hardware. Vista will usually list a brand and model such as Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT for my video driver. If you see general names for hardware such as video cards, sound cards, or monitors that’s a hint that Vista probably wasn’t able to find the latest driver for that device. For such devices you’ll need to hunt down the latest Vista compatible drivers from the manufacturer’s website.
Below are a few devices and brands I’ve noticed the biggest improvement when I’ve been able to find the Vista compatible driver.
1. If you’re running an Nvidia video card you can download Vista drivers here. Vista compatible drivers for ATI can be found here.
2. If you’re running a newer Creative brand sound card such as the X-Fi series, you can download Vista drivers from here.
3. Microsoft has a number of updated drivers for their webcams, mice and keyboards you can find here. I bought a Microsoft Lifecam webcam yesterday and the drivers it came with were two versions old.
4. Dell has released a number of Vista compatible drivers for their monitors you can find here.
5. Search HP for updated Vista drivers here.
Other Resources:
RadarSync has a nice list of Vista drivers
Nordquist Blog 