you need drivers
drivers are little bits of software that show your OS how to deal with, configure and use the hardware associated with them. Drivers are a good thing.
Windows comes with lots of drivers built in. A great many of these are basic, functional and rubbish and thus its a good idea to go and find new ones.
Lots of manufacturers bundle drivers with products, since in many cases these are rebadged/relabed from the actual manufacturer and sometimes contain rubbish, we suggest you skip those and go direct to the source.
Here's a few good places to go looking for current versions of drivers
motherboard chipsets
Intel -> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx
nVidia -> http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
AMD -> http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDSupportHub.aspx
VIA -> http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2
SIS -> http://www.sis.com/download/
videocards
ATI -> http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx
Intel -> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx
nVidia -> http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
nVidia mobile -> http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_drivers.html
VIA -> http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2
SIS -> http://www.sis.com/download/
sound
Asus -> http://support.asus.com/download/downlo ... uage=en-us
Auzentech -> http://www.auzensupport.com/site/download/updates.php
Creative -> http://support.creative.com/
Realtek -> http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/
network
Intel -> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx
3com -> http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/downloadsindex.jsp
Marvell -> http://www.marvell.com/drivers/search.do
Broadcom -> http://www.broadcom.com/support/etherne ... rivers.php
Realtek -> http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/
SIS -> http://www.sis.com/download/
Shin: Updated 04/04/09
