How to update graphics drivers to boost visuals

A graphics driver is essentially the link between your graphics card and computer. A graphics card is your graphics processing unit (GPU). A GPU is central to all computer graphics and helps to improve the quality of images and videos, ensuring they are displayed correctly. 

If you think about how many images and videos you see each time you use your computer, you'll appreciate that it's important to keep these components up to date so everything runs smoothly. If you miss a GPU driver update, glitches could happen. That's because manufacturers release new versions over time with improvements and bug fixes. 

There are two ways to make these updates: manually or automatically. As you would expect, manually is going to be trickier, and riskier as a result, unless you're fairly technical and feel confident that you know what you're doing (and can roll changes back if things don't go as planned). Intel is one of the most popular graphics chip makers so we'll explain how to manually update driver files for these.

Then we'll explain how you can automatically run a GPU driver update at the same time as all your other drivers, saving you time and a possible headache.

How to manually perform an Intel graphics driver update

Here is the upgrade process for these drivers on a Windows 10 machine and Windows 7. This way doesn't come recommended unless you're a tech whizz and understand how to rollback changes if things go wrong, but it's your choice.

Intel graphics driver update on Windows 10

1. First, you need to identify which version your Intel graphics card is and note down your system type and Windows edition. 
2. Go to the Intel "Download Center" to find the corresponding graphics driver. You can also go to your computer manufacturer's website to install the driver (Intel recommends this option as manufacturers can change features and make adjustments that could render an install incompatible). 
3. Download the relevant driver (unzip it if it comes in a zip file). 
4. Go to the Windows Start button and click on "Device Manager".
5. Go to the "Display adaptors" section and right-click on the Intel graphics option.
6. Select "Browse my computer for driver software", then "Browse".
7. Go to the location of your driver files that you downloaded and click "OK", then "Next".
8. Restart your computer and your new drivers should be installed.

Here are the full instructions in more detail for Windows 10. 

Intel graphics driver update on Windows 7

1. First, you need to identify which version your Intel graphics card is and note down your system type and Windows edition. 
2. Go to the Intel "Download Center" to find the corresponding graphics driver. You can also go to your computer manufacturer's website to install the driver (Intel recommends this option as manufacturers can change features and make adjustments that could render an install incompatible). 
3. Download the relevant driver (unzip it if it comes in a zip file). 
4. Go to the Start button then right-click "Computer", then choose "Manage".
5. Select "Device Manager" from the left, then double-click on "Display Adaptors".
6. Right-click on the Intel Graphics Controller, then click "Update Driver Software".
7. Select "Browse my computer for driver software", then "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer", then "Have Disk".
8. Click on "Browse" and go to a folder called "Graphics".
9. Choose the file called "igdlh64" or "igdlh".
10. Click on "Open", then "OK", then "Next".
11. Restart your computer and your new drivers should be installed.

Here are the full instructions in more detail for Windows 7.

How to automatically update graphics driver

This is the quicker, safer and easier way, for some with average technical knowledge. This way, you can update all of your drivers at once by using a third-party driver updater tool such as the one included in CCleaner Professional. It has over 25 million drivers in its database which means that any drivers you have that match these will be identified. 

CCleaner Professional will scan your PC to let you know which drivers are updated, find all the drivers associated with the devices that need updating (including your graphics driver) and then install the new versions for you. It also comes with other great features to clean and optimize your PC that will improve your online privacy, create valuable space, run a health check, tune your PC to improve its performance, and more. 

You can try CCleaner and its Driver Updater today for free and use it for 14 days with no obligation. Since you don't have to enter any card details, if you don't like it you can simply leave the trial with no fuss.