CompTIA A+® Certification All-In-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

1.2. Changing Device Settings

Regardless of how you install the drivers for the device, if Windows can't detect the settings for the device, you are prompted to specify IRQ, I/O, DMA, and memory resource settings. The prompt should only be necessary for non–Plug and Play devices. If you are not sure of the current settings for the device, confirm the settings by examining the hardware or by using the configuration utility that came with the device. A configuration utility should be included on the driver disk of any devices that support software configuration. If the device is configured for Plug and Play, you shouldn't have to worry about this.

For many devices, you can add drivers from the device's Control Panel applet, if there is one. This ability is not available for all devices but is available for modems and several other devices.

If you want to change the settings for a device that is installed on your system, you can use either the Control Panel applet for the device (such as Phone and Modem Options, Display, or Network) or Device Manager. Because each Control Panel applet is different, I do not go through each of them here, but rather show you Device Manager.

To access Device Manager in Windows XP, choose StartControl Panel, double-click the System applet (opening the System Properties dialog box), and then click the Device Manager button on the Hardware tab. You can also ...