Question: My printer is more than 5 years old and no longer serviced by the manufacturer. They claim I can get new drivers from a third-party source. I am asking for a recommendation because I am terrified to go searching after the disasters I have had in the past. Can you make a recommendation for a third-party driver provider? — Charles E. Kanter
Answer: The trouble is that drivers are universally created by the manufacturer — not some third party. The third-party sites simply store the drivers created by the manufacturer. And most of what I've seen of third-party sites that specialize in driver downloads is bad — many times, along with the driver, you get some shady programs that come with the download unbidden. There's a real chance of getting malware along with the driver. It's much safer to download the drivers from the original source, not a third party.
I looked at the download section from your manufacturer and it does have the drivers for your printer. The trouble is that the drivers aren’t compatible with Windows 10. In the past I’ve run Windows in compatibility mode (it fakes out an outdated program or driver into thinking you are running an earlier version of Windows) and had success. I’ve also had failures that way, too. But it’s worth a try. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to buy a printer that is compatible with Windows 10.
I finally have Windows 10 behaving. But getting to that point has been like trying to housebreak a bear. Just when I would think all was well, I’d end up with a giant mess to clean up.
I’m not sure how you are doing with 10, or whether you have made the move yet. So I thought I’d use my own experiences to offer some advice. I can’t promise I’ll spare you the pain, but I can prepare you for it.
Let me start out by saying that I know people who have made a painless transition to 10. If you are in that boat, feel free to stop reading now. Take the dog for a walk or go have a congratulatory cup of coffee. But even for those in that happy boat, it may make sense to file this away just in case 10 still has some surprises in store for you.
When I first wrote about 10, I offered this advice. I said it would be smart to wait awhile before making the move. After all, any major operating system upgrade — and this is indeed a major one — will have undiscovered bugs. Why not let the early adopters find them and let Microsoft fix them before installing 10? There’s another reason to wait, too. In the early days of a rollout, there isn’t a good database of advice and help online. Even the experts are still trying to figure things out.
The free upgrade offer, for those running most versions of Windows 7 and later, has a one-year expiration date. I’d wait until there’s a month or two left on the offer and then make the move.
For those of you who already have installed Windows 10 within the past month and are having troubles, there is a way to go back to the version of Windows you were using before 10. Here's a website that offers step-by-step directions: www.howtogeek.com/220723/how-to-uninstall-windows-10-and-downgrade-to-windows-7-or-8.1/
That rollback is only available for the first month of using Windows 10.
If things between you and Windows 10 aren’t right, and that month has passed, there are still things you can do. Let me start with my usual advice of making sure you have a good backup of all your data. That way if a real disaster strikes, you’ll at least have all your documents, photos and financial information safely stored away.
One of the most common problems when first moving to Windows 10 can be pinned on bad drivers. These drivers are small software programs that let your computer communicate with your hardware — everything from printers and scanners to the network adapter that lets your computer get a good signal from the Internet.
Unfortunately not all manufacturers have Windows 10 drivers available. In some cases they’ll be available later, but in other cases — especially when your hardware devices are old — the new drivers may never come. For instance, the network adapter in one of my computers didn’t have a Windows 10-compatible driver. That resulted in an Internet connection that worked as reliably as my Uncle Red.
The fix for me was to install the latest driver I could find — in this case I got it from Dell, the manufacturer of my computer. It still wasn't recent enough to be Windows 10-compatible. So I had to trick the computer into accepting the driver by installing it in what is called compatibility mode. This website will tell you how to do that: www.windows10forums.com/articles/compatibility-mode.7/
That worked fine for me. Not everyone will be that lucky. It could be that your printer, scanner or network card will never work with Windows 10. If that’s the case, there’s no option other than replacing the device with a new one that is Windows 10-compatible.
Since I can't know what problems — if any — that you are having with Windows 10, I am including this link: www.techradar.com/us/news/software/operating-systems/20-common-windows-10-problems-and-how-to-solve-them-1300292. It looks at several common problems and offers solutions.
Look, I hope your own experience with Windows 10 has been smoother than mine and that none of these tips applies to you. For those with problems, well, if misery loves company, you have mine.
