I’ve lost count of the number of times someone’s come to me with a PC support request who, when I asked if they have their Windows install disc or the driver discs that came with their hardware and computer, stare at me blankly… or worse!

Shoe boxes are tremendously useful things, one of their best uses is that they’ll safely and securely store CDs and DVDs under your bed or in a cupboard.  You can even write on them to remind you what they contain.

When you buy a PC or any new hardware you will also get a bunch of discs.  These are important, they contain software and probably your licenced copy of Windows too.  More importantly they’ll contain the drivers for your hardware.

You might think “We won’t have a problem, Windows will find all the drivers.”  The other day though I received a call that I’d had many times before from different people.  A friend had reinstalled Windows but not kept the driver CDs for their hardware.  Thus, when the time came for Windows to check the internet for the latest drivers, it failed.  Why?  It didn’t already have the driver for his wireless network card and couldn’t get online.

He also didn’t have a network cable to physically plug his PC into his router, to connect to the internet that way.  The only solution was for me to download the driver for him, burn it to a CD and give it to him when I saw him next, a process that took a couple of days and really slowed down his attempts to get back on-line.

When you get a new PC or buy new hardware, the bundled CDs might not seem very important.  Please remember though that your computer is not a consumer electonics device and won’t behave as such.  Every now and then you’ll need these discs to reinstall everything.  So please please please go and buy some shoes as well!