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How to Update your HP Device Drivers

If you are having problems with your Hewlett Packard printer, camera, scanner or any other device one of the first things to check is the HP device driver. The HP driver is a programme which allows a computer to communicate effectively with a HP device.

Hewlett Packard provide a number of different drivers for each device they provide, as a different driver is required for different operating systems. If you have recently upgraded your OS and a device has subsequently developed issues it is almost certainly the device driver causing issues. In this situation the only remedy is to uninstall the driver and download a new version. Because drivers are so easy to download and install, it is wise to make these one of the first things to change before looking at more complex solutions.

Drivers for the more common HP devices are readily available and indeed often pre installed within operating systems, however if a device is newer than the computer it is being connected to a driver will need to be installed. HP drivers for end user devices such as home printers and cameras are user friendly and self install upon completion of download. Occasionally other HP drivers will require installing but the download site will have full instructions in a read me file.

HP write the device drivers for their products and will release updates during the life of the driver, and new driver programmes as new operating systems become available. When Microsoft released Vista in 2007 HP had to produce new drivers for nearly all their supported products. A new OS launch can be the cut off point where a device manufacturer decides to stop producing drivers. Hewlett Packard say that most of the devices for which they decided not to provide drivers for vista are over seven years old however there are some objections.

There is a little ill feeling amongst a small number of HP device users that HP provide support in the form of new drivers for devices which require the ongoing purchase of consumables, and therefore continue to generate revenue for HP. It is impossible to say whether there is any truth in this however it is fair that HP cannot continue to provide drivers for out of life devices forever.

Whilst it would be possible for anyone to create HP Device drivers it would be difficult, therefore there is little development outside that from HP themselves. As HP do not charge for their device drivers there is no incentive for anyone to produce their own, unless they are rather attached to a no longer supported device.
 

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