Updating your driver

Your network driver is software that runs your network card.  As new technologies emerge it is important to keep your driver updated.  Updating your network driver can also improve performance greatly.  Even if you have a new machine, your drivers may be over a year old.  Old network drivers are  one of the main causes for student connectivity problems on our campus. 

Ensure your network driver is up to date now by following these steps.  Make sure to do this at a time when you are going to be connected for a while and can dedicate your computer  to a download.  It typically does not take more than 20 minutes for the download to occur.

PC Users

  1. Right click on My Computer or Computer, and then choose Properties. (XP Users will have an extra step to click on the Hardware tab here)
  2. Choose Device Manager. Click on the "+" sign next to Network Adapters.
  3. Right click on the adapter you use to connect with (usually wireless and/or Gigabit Connection), then choose Update Driver
  4. Enter a selection for "Search for the Software automatically"   Click Next.   Follow the wizard to install.
  5. If the computer tells you that you have the latest driver then you probably have the latest driver and no extra action is needed.

Mac Users

If you use a Mac, a software update from Apple is all you need to perform.

  1. Go to System Preferences >> Software Updates >> Update Now.
  2. Select which components you wish to install.  The wireless drivers are usually labeled as Airport.  It is advisable to install all of the components to stay completely up
  3. Click Install.

 

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