Computers are all about hardware and software. Software is the stuff you see on your screen. It works in conjunction with hardware to get things done. Basically, software is instructions written in a computer language that tell hardware what to do and when to do it. You can’t see or touch software, because it’s just information stored on a disk and transmitted across wires. Hardware is any gadget that you can hold in your hand and connect to your computer. A single hardware gadget is referred to as a hardware device or just device for short. You can buy and use thousands of hardware devices with a computer. Printers, scanners, mice, keyboards, monitors, disk drives, digital cameras, MP3 players, modems, and routers are all examples of hardware devices. This article is about installing and using hardware devices.

Before You Install Anything

Before we get started, first a few words that will mainly be of interest to readers who have experience with earlier versions of Windows. In 1990, the PC world went through a major transition from DOS to Windows. It wasn’t an easy transition. Many were bitter and angry, swearing never to defect from DOS. That’s all long forgotten now. And since 1990, the transitions have been relatively minor going from one version of Windows to the next, Windows 3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, and so forth.

Every now and then the industry has to change course like we did in 1990. It has to stop building things that focus on compatibility and the past. We have to turn the other direction and build things that look to the future. Windows Vista is really that kind of transition. Simply stated, Vista isn’t XP with transparent window borders and a cute Flip 3D thing. Under the covers, it’s really a whole new operating system and a whole new way of doing things. And the change isn’t based on incompetence or a desire to irritate people and make them spend money. It’s about overcoming limitations and problems from the past to open the way to a brighter future.

The downside to such a change is that a lot of old stuff won’t work. At least, not without drivers specifically written for Vista. Microsoft doesn’t create the drivers. The people who create the products that work with Vista create the drivers for their own products. However, product manufacturers can post their drivers to Microsoft’s Windows Update site. This is a good thing because it means you can download drivers easily and automatically on an as-needed basis. I’ll talk about drivers in some more detail later in this article. But here are a couple of good things to know:

- If you don’t have an “always on” Internet connection, connect to the Internet before you install any device. That way Windows can search for current drivers automatically after you install the device.

- If you see a prompt asking if it’s OK to search online for updated drivers, always choose Yes. Product manufacturers don’t taint their own products with viruses or other malware. So there’s no security risk involved in downloading drivers.

With those two thoughts in mind, let’s take it from the top and begin with a discussion of the most common types of hardware installations.

Using Hot-Pluggable Devices

Many modern hardware devices are hot-pluggable, which means you just connect them to your computer and start using them. There’s no need to shut down the computer before connecting the device. Nor is there any need to go through a formal installation process after you connect the device. However, you should always read the instructions that came with a device before you connect it for the first time because sometimes you do need to install some software before you connect the device. When that’s the case, the software is usually on a CD that comes with the device. Hot-pluggable devices generally connect to the computer through one of three main ports: USB, IEEE 1392, or PC Card (also called PCMCIA or Cardbus). We’ll look at those in the sections to follow.

Connecting USB devices

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is the most common type of hot-pluggable device. USB is used by digital cameras, microphones, external disk drives, and many other types of devices. Like most technologies, USB has evolved over the years, and there are currently three versions of USB on the market. The main differences among USB standard versions have to do with speed. USB 1.0 and 1.1 have two speeds: Low Speed (1.5 Mbps) used by mice and keyboards, and Full Speed (12 Mbps), more often used by digital cameras and disk drives. USB 2.0 added a third, High Speed, data rate, which can transfer data at the much faster rate of 480 Mbps. USB 2.0 is downwardly compatible with USB 1.1 and 1.0, which means that you can use a USB 2.0 device in a computer with USB 1.x ports. However, the device will transfer at the 12 Mbps speed rather than the 480 Mbps speed available only in USB 2.0. So you don’t really need to know exactly which type of USB your computer has. If you plug a USB 2.0 device into a USB 1.0 or 1.1 port, Windows will display a message telling you that you’d get better performance from a USB 2.0 port. But the device will still work. It’ll just be a little slower than if you’d plugged it into a USB 2.0 port.

If you ever want to learn more about a technology mentioned in this article, like USB, IEEE 1394, IDE, SATA, or whatever, browse to www.wikipedia.org and search for the acronym of interest.

There are three different USB plug shapes, named Type A, Type B, and Mini-USB or On-the-Go (OTG). The computer has female Type A ports, into which you plug the male Type A plug on the cable. The device might have Type A, B, or a mini-port. The plugs are all keyed so that they only fit one way. Try pushing the plug gently into the port, and it if won’t fit, flip the plug over and try again. Connecting a USB device should be easy, providing you’ve done any preliminary installations required by your specific device. The steps are as follows:

1. If the device has an on/off switch, turn it off.

2. Connect the device to the computer using the appropriate USB cable.

3. If the device has an on/off switch, turn it on.

The very first time you connect a device, you might get some feedback on the screen indicating that Windows is loading drivers for the device. That message will be followed by one indicating that the device is ready for use. In many cases, you’ll get an AutoPlay dialog box after you’ve connected the device. From the AutoPlay dialog box, click whichever option best describes what you want to do with the device. In the case of a hard drive, that would most likely be the Open Folder to View Files option, unless you were using that hard drive to store one specific type of file.

What’s “Speed up my system” and ReadyBoost?

Some USB devices can be used to speed up your system with ReadyBoost. When you plug a flash drive into a USB port, AutoPlay options might include an option to speed up your system using ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost is a Vista feature designed to speed up some operations by using flash memory as intermediary storage between the processor and the hard drive. It only works with USB devices that actually can play that role. Flash memory has fast random I/O capabilities, and therefore isn’t supported by all USB devices.

Connecting IEEE 1394 devices

IEEE 1394 (often called 1394 for short) is a high-speed (400-Mbps) standard typically used to connect digital video cameras and high-speed disk drives to computers. Connecting a 1394 device is much the same as connecting a USB device:

1. Leave the computer running, and turn the device off (if it has an on/off switch).

2. Connect one end of the 1394 cable to the computer and the other end to the device.

3. Turn on the device and wait.

PC Cards and Cardbus

PC Cards and Cardbus cards (also called PCMCIA devices) are commonly used on notearticle computers. The device is usually a little larger and thicker than a credit card. Connecting a PC Card to a notearticle computer is simple. Just slide the card into the slot, right side up, and push until it’s firmly seated. As with USB and FireWire devices, you should get some feedback on the screen indicating when the device is connected and ready for use. How you use the device depends on the type of device you inserted.

Using memory cards

Memory cards are hot-pluggable storage devices. Most memory cards are used in digital cameras and jump drives. You just connect the camera or jump drive to a USB port to access the content on the memory card. However, if your computer has slots for memory cards, you can also insert the card directly into the appropriate slot. After you insert a memory card into a slot, you should get some feedback on the screen indicating that the card is ready for use. That may be in the form of an AutoPlay dialog box. Or an Explorer window may open to show you the contents of the card. Either way, the card will be treated as a USB Mass Storage device, as discussed next.

Memory cards and USB mass storage

Memory cards and USB devices that store data act like disk drives when you connect them to a computer. As such, each will have an icon in your Computer folder when it’s connected. Using such a device is no different from using any other disk drive. To see the contents of the device, open its icon. Use the standard techniques to navigate through folders, to delete files and folders, and to move and copy files and folders.

Disconnecting hot-pluggable devices

Before you disconnect a hot-pluggable device from a computer, you might want to make sure it’s not in the middle of a file transfer, or holding a file that you have open in some program. To do that, point to each of the icons in your Notification area and see if there’s one named Safely Remove Hardware. That icon shows only when you have a storage device attached.