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To add or remove a Windows component in Windows 2000/XP, open the Add/Remove Programs or Add or Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel. From here, select Add/Remove Windows Components, which opens the Windows Components Wizard (Figure 17-17). You can select an installed program here. You can see how frequently it is used, how much disk space it uses, and (sometimes) the last time it was used.

Figure 17-17 Windows Components Wizard

In Windows Vista/7, open the Programs and Features applet in the Control Panel, and then click the Turn Windows features on or off option on the Tasks list. Click Continue if prompted by UAC and you will be presented with the Windows Features dialog box (Figure 17-18). To toggle a feature on or off, simply click its checkbox. Unlike previous versions of Windows, you no longer need to have the installation disc to turn on features.

Installing/Optimizing a Device

The processes for optimizing hardware in Windows are absolutely identical, even down to the troubleshooting utilities, and are very similar to the steps for installing a new device. The installation process is covered in every chapter of this book that deals with one type of device or another, so this section concentrates on the issues that fit best under optimization.

Figure 17-18 Windows Features dialog in Vista

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EXAM TIP Both CompTIA A+ exams test you on installing and optimizing devices.

Driver Updates

Device manufacturers occasionally update their drivers. Most of these updates take place to fix problems, but many updates incorporate new features. Whatever the case, when one of your devices gets an updated driver, it’s your job to install it. Windows/Microsoft Update provides an easy method to update drivers from manufacturers that take advantage of the service. If you are using Windows 2000 or XP, you usually need to select the Custom option to see these updates because the Express option only installs high-priority updates. When you click on the Custom option, look under Hardware, Optional (on the left) to see if Windows has any driver updates (Figure 17-19).

If you are using Vista/7, you will need to click View available updates to see if any drivers are available for your system. No matter what version of Windows you have, take some time to read what these updates do—sometimes you may choose not to install a driver update because it’s not necessary or useful to your system.

If Windows does not put a driver update in the Windows Update tool, how do you know a device needs updating? The trick is to know your devices. Video card manufacturers update drivers quite often. Get in the habit of registering your video card with the manufacturer to stay up to date. Any very new device is also a good candidate for an update. When you buy that new cool toy for your system, make a point to head over to the manufacturer’s Web site and see if any updates have come out since it was packaged for sale. That happens more often than you might think!

Figure 17-19 Optional Hardware updates

Driver Signing

Device drivers become part of the operating system and thus have the potential to cause lots of problems if they’re written poorly. To protect Windows systems from bad device drivers, Microsoft uses driver signing, which means that each driver has a digital signature. Any drivers included on the Windows installation media or at the Windows Update Web site are digitally signed. Once you have installed a driver, you can look at its Properties to confirm that it was digitally signed. Figure 17-20 shows a digitally signed network card driver.

When an unsigned driver is detected during hardware installation, you’ll see the message in Figure 17-21 offering you the choice to stop or continue the installation. Signed drivers are more or less a sure thing, but that doesn’t mean unsigned ones are a problem—just consider the source of the driver and ensure that your device works properly after installation.

Figure 17-20 A digitally signed driver

Figure 17-21 Stop or continue