Windows 7: Device Manager

The Device Manager shows you the devices that are integrated in and connected to your computer, and their drivers.

A device driver is software that allows Windows to communicate with a specific hardware device. Before Windows can use any new hardware, a device driver must be installed.

The Device Manager is also used to install and update the drivers for hardware devices, change the hardware settings for those devices, and troubleshoot problems.

Device Manager provides you with a graphical overview of the hardware and peripheral devices installed on your computer.

All devices communicate with Windows through a computer program called a device driver.

Device Manager can be used to install and update the drivers for your hardware devices, modify their hardware settings, and troubleshoot problems.

You can use Device Manager to, enable, disable, and uninstall devices, identify the device drivers that are loaded for each device, get information about each device driver, find out whether the hardware on your computer is working properly, and alter hardware configuration settings.

It can also be used for changing advanced settings and properties for devices, installing updated device drivers, rolling back to the previous version of a driver, and viewing the devices based on their type, by their connection to the computer, or by the resources they use. 

You can in addition show or hide hidden devices that are not critical to view, but might be necessary for advanced troubleshooting.

Device Manager is generally used to check the status of your hardware and also to update device drivers on your computer. Power users who have a comprehensive understanding of computer hardware will also use Device Manager's diagnostic features to resolve device conflicts and change resource settings.

Ordinarily, you will not need to use Device Manager to change resource settings because resources are allocated automatically by the system during hardware setup.

Device Manager will only manage devices only on a local computer. On a remote computer, Device Manager works only in read-only mode, enabling you to view, but not alter the hardware configuration of that computer.