Vista - Driver update question

Hello everyone, I have a couple of questions about when one should update drivers.
There are updates avail for my video card and audio card. Everything seems to be working great so why would i need to update? I feel a little stupid asking but-- Thanks for any help

Hi Larry,

Asides from the usual security issues - yes, even drivers have loopholes which malware writers can exploit - new drivers often incorporate improvements to their performance. Many of these improvements will probably go unnoticed, but you might well use an application or play a game to which these improvements are targeted. These improvements can often allow a program to run whereas before it didn't (or, if it did, allow it to run without causing errors).

Thanks Dwarf!

Glad to have helped. Incidentally, and I know that this has been said elsewhere, you should obtain drivers for hardware from the hardware manufacturers', except, of course, if the manufacturer is Microsoft themselves.

While Dwarf is right, it's always better to get your hardware (device) drivers from the manufacture's website as the drivers offered by Microsoft’s Windows Update are basic drivers without the added features the manufacture adds.

Example, your video card drivers may include features like a Control Panel to enhance features on your video card. The basic drivers offered by Windows Updates are just the basic drivers required for Microsoft's certification, without the control panel. The same goes for your soundcard.

Thus it's always better to get the "full featured" drivers, which are only offered by the device manufacture.

Of course this is a moot point if you're not comfortable with manually updating your drivers, or you don't really need full featured drivers.

Just a thought.