How-To  

How to Update Your BIOS

Patrick Miller 21 Jan' 2010

Slideshow

BIOS Update Without a Hitch

Your computer's BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is the first software your PC loads. It sets the stage for your operating system, so to speak, by finding all your PC's various hardware components and letting the operating system know it can use them.

As with any software, your computer or motherboard manufacturer periodically updates the BIOS to fix bugs, add compatibility with new devices, improve caching functions, and make several other hardware tweaks that can speed up your boot time and fix annoying issues. These updates are available at the manufacturer's site. But if you make a mistake in the update process, you risk rendering your PC unbootable. Here's how to make sure your BIOS update goes without a hitch.

Slideshow

Other How-To

Latest How-Too

Showing: 11-20 of 372

Rick Broida, 07 May' 2013

Recently I told you how to take advantage of Windows 8's cool new file-copy feature. What I didn't mention was a small, but potentially significant, change in the way Windows more..

Lincoln Spector, 06 May' 2013

BearPup sometimes wants to open a file in one program, and other times open it in another. He asked the Answer Line forum for an easy way to do this. more..

Rick Broida, 30 Apr' 2013

A couple years back I called the USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter the most indispensable tool in my PC repair kit. Just this weekend, it once again proved itself worthy of that title. more..

Lincoln Spector, 18 Apr' 2013

Srinivasan Kasturi followed my instructions in How to add permanent captions to your photos, and was disappointed that his captions didn't appear on the pictures themselves. more..

Dan Moren, 18 Apr' 2013

Beginning in Mountain Lion, OS X features social media integration options with both Twitter and Facebook, letting you post to the services from the OS itself, as well as sync more..

Rick Broida, 15 Apr' 2013

The Internet? Kind of a cesspool. And as the parent of kids who are now old enough to operate a Web browser, you can bet I'm keen on checking their activities and filtering ou more..

Rick Broida, 11 Apr' 2013

If you're a Firefox user, you may have noticed a few changes in the latest version of Mozilla's browser, which "turned 20" last week. more..

Rick Broida, 21 Mar' 2013

There's a lot to like about the new Office 2013. Heck, some might argue that Outlook alone is worth the price of admission. more..

Ted Landau, 01 Mar' 2013

One of the best benefits of using iCloud is Safari syncing because it syncs all of your Safari bookmarks across all your Mac and iOS devices. As if that wasn't enough, if you' more..

Rick Broida, 27 Feb' 2013

PC World reader Joel is an Internet Explorer 9 user who encountered a problem: more..

Showing: 11-20 of 372