Introduction

Several new features on installing and maintaining hardware components and device drivers have changed from earlier Microsoft Windows releases. Many of these new features include automatic maintenance and configuration without the need of administrator interaction. By the end of this chapter, you will know how to install, configure, and maintain hardware devices and their drivers in Microsoft Vista. You will learn about new features such as the automated help system and how it helps you install and maintain your hardware components. As we go, we will customize common hardware components, such as the mouse, keyboard, and others.

Before we learn about the installation and maintenance techniques and procedures, or discuss options for updating device drivers for hardware devices, we will discuss how we can take a look at the currently installed devices and drivers. It would be a good idea to take a look at these devices using the Device Manager snap-in. For those of you who have worked with the Device Manager before, you can skip to the next section, Installing and Maintaining Hardware Devices.

Viewing Currently Installed Devices

In most cases, you will have a computer with several devices preinstalled in it, each one with a different role. Getting to know these devices, their purpose, and the resources used by them will give you a better idea of how the system is using these devices. The Device Manager snap-in, which was available in earlier versions of Windows operating systems is available with Windows Vista also. The Device...