It's always nice to keep all your hardware updated with the latest drivers.

But sometimes when you install a new driver, it can cause Windows to become a tad unstable. Fortunately, you don't have to just live with it, because it's quite easy to revert back to the previous driver with Windows' built-in rollback feature.

For this function to work, however, you'll need administrator rights to your computer.

So when a driver that you installed causes things to go potty, just follow these instructions in Windows XP:

  1. Click on "Start", "Control Panel".
  2. Double-click on the "Administrative Tools" icon (if you can't see the icon, click on the "Switch to Classic View" link on the left).
  3. Double-click on "Computer Management".
  4. Click on "Device Manager".
  5. You'll now see a list of all the hardware installed on your computer. Look for the device which you installed an upgraded driver for, clicking the + sign to see subsections.
  6. When you've found the right device, right-click on it and then click on "Properties".
  7. Click on the "Driver" tab.
  8. Now click on the "Roll Back driver" button.