WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:06.560 Now, I've received a number of complaints that my fastest possible 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:09.360 episodes haven't been fast enough lately. And to that, I would reply, 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:14.880 "Well, if you weren't all throwing things at me while I try to film the bloody things, maybe we wouldn't have 00:00:12.639 --> 00:00:19.600 this problem." So, with that 15 seconds of your valuable life wasted, let's get 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:24.680 right into it. A driver is, as Microsoft defines it, software that allows your 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:29.679 computer to communicate with hardware or devices. Simple, right? But why do we 00:00:27.279 --> 00:00:33.440 even need that? So, you've got a device. Let's say a sound card. You should be 00:00:31.439 --> 00:00:37.680 able to just plug it in with no drivers and your music player, let's say Win amp 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:41.440 should generate a digital signal that says, you know, yo, sup dog. I need an E 00:00:39.440 --> 00:00:45.040 flat up in this biz or something. And the sound card should make that noise, 00:00:43.040 --> 00:00:49.200 right? Well, actually, yeah, that's basically how it works. And if there was 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:53.039 only one sound card in existence, it pretty much could. But there's a 00:00:50.800 --> 00:00:57.520 problem. There are literally thousands of sound devices, and all of them will 00:00:55.680 --> 00:01:02.320 work completely differently from each other. The signal that meant E flat in 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:07.200 our last example could mean dinosaur onion to another. And for everything to 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:11.439 work correctly, software makers would need to rewrite their software with 00:01:09.360 --> 00:01:16.159 specialized signaling for your sound card along with every card that ever 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:20.479 existed and every card that ever will exist. It would be fine if every single 00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:24.960 software developer was the freaking doctor. But this is the real world, not 00:01:22.479 --> 00:01:30.000 my fantasy. So that's what a driver is. It acts as an abstraction layer or 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:34.720 translator. That way, the makers of your favorite programs only have to interact 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:39.360 with your hardware in one standardized language and the driver handles the 00:01:36.960 --> 00:01:44.000 rest. So, that sounds relatively simple. Why do drivers cause so many issues? 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:48.920 Well, there are a ton of variables that exist for the programmers on the driver 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:53.040 side as well. Aside from our oversimplified Eflat example, your 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:57.600 hardware is capable of a great deal of amazing stuff. All of which we expect to 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:02.479 work absolutely perfectly. And even though standards exist, even if they 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:08.399 were adhered to perfectly, things like other devices and other pieces of 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:10.160 software can cause conflicts. And on top 00:02:08.399 --> 00:02:14.959 of that, separate drivers need to be maintained for multiple operating 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:18.959 systems like Linux, OS 10, Windows, and the various flavors of each that exist 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:23.280 in the wild, each with their own universal language that the driver needs 00:02:20.959 --> 00:02:28.160 to translate to. It leaves plenty of room for one of the variants of a driver 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:31.840 for a particular piece of hardware to have an imperfection or two and helps me 00:02:30.239 --> 00:02:35.519 at least understand why sometimes a piece of hardware lacks support for the 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:39.519 OS I'm trying to use it with. Which isn't to say that the lack of an 00:02:37.440 --> 00:02:42.720 official driver always precludes using the hardware on Windows anyway. 00:02:41.200 --> 00:02:47.360 Sometimes if you know what you're doing, you can force install one and it will 00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:51.440 mostly work. Driver files are usually INF files and Vista drivers can 00:02:49.920 --> 00:02:56.319 sometimes be used on Windows 7 and Windows 8 and vice versa. So pick the 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:01.120 correct version of Windows, that is to say 32-bit or 64-bit, not Pro or 00:02:58.959 --> 00:03:05.280 Ultimate or whatever. Extract the files from the installer and give the manual 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:09.280 browse feature in Device Manager a crack before you totally throw up your hands 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:13.360 and give up. This trick has saved my bacon with wireless network adapters and 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:18.080 other things a handful of times. Speaking of saving my bacon, this is 00:03:16.239 --> 00:03:22.159 from Dollar Shave Club and it contains their wonderful smelling shave butter. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:26.400 And the only thing that could be manlier about it would be if it smelled like 00:03:23.920 --> 00:03:30.080 bacon. This majestic six blade razor, also from Dollar Shave Club, on the 00:03:27.920 --> 00:03:32.720 other hand, couldn't be more manly if it smelled like bacon, was covered in back 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:38.560 hair, and belched the pledge of allegiance every morning before a breakfast made of bacon. Dollar Shave 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:42.640 Club saves you time and saves you money by delivering wicked highquality razors 00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:46.400 and other bathroom supplies directly to your door once per month. So you can be 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:50.720 shaving with a fresh blade every week without the hassle of running to the 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:54.319 store. 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They also have peppermint scented 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:34.720 butt wipes for men. Maybe if I used these instead of normal butt wipes, I 00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:39.400 wouldn't stink. And the human interaction made possible by my non-stinkiness would give me the 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:44.400 confidence to tell you no. Again, that's 00:04:42.919 --> 00:04:49.759 dollarshaveclub.com/Linus. Thanks for watching, guys. Like the video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, 00:04:47.520 --> 00:04:52.560 share it if you like machetes, and as always, don't forget to subscribe to 00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:56.479 Techquickie for more fastest possible episodes just like this one.