Page 805 - Windows 10 May 2019 Update The Missing Manual: The Book That Should Have Been in the Box

your entire operating system to its condition from before you installed the

questionable driver. (Use System Restore, described on “System Restore”,
for that purpose. Windows automatically takes a snapshot of your working
system just before you install any unsigned driver.)

The Device Manager

The Device Manager (Figure 14-2) is an extremely powerful tool that lets

you troubleshoot and update drivers for gear you’ve already installed. It’s a
master list of every component that makes up your PC: drives, keyboard,
trackpad, screen, battery, and so on. It’s also a status screen that lets you

know which drivers are working properly and which ones need some
attention.

The quickest way to open the Device Manager is to right-click the

button, which makes the secret Utilities menu appear; choose Device
Manager.

You arrive at the screen shown in Figure 14-2.

The Curse of the Yellow ! Badge

A yellow circled exclamation point next to the name indicates a problem
with the device’s driver. It could mean that either you or Windows installed
the wrong driver, or that the device is fighting for resources with another

component. It could also mean that a driver can’t find the equipment it’s
supposed to control. That’s what happens to your webcam driver, for

example, if you’ve detached the webcam.

The yellow badge may also be the result of a serious incompatibility
between the component and your computer, or the component and

Windows. In that case, a call to the manufacturer’s help line is almost
certainly in your future.