Didn't have to install a single driver!

When I finished up my custom install of W7 on Sunday I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I didn't have to install a single driver and all of my devices/peripherals worked just fine, including my wireless mouse/keyboard, laser printer, router, everything worked as it should from the get go! I did install and update the appropriate drivers/software for my devices but it was cool to know that hey were all recognized and functional without doing so. Easiest, most pain free installation of a windows os I've ever done!

MS spent a fortune paying to build drivers for Win7 so that they would have them in the installer or quickly available via optional Windows Updates.

Their WHQL driver program paid manufacturers to build the drivers so that they wouldn't hold out to force consumers to buy newer hardware like happened with Vista.

There are a few exceptions, like a missing component on some NVidia chipsets showing in Device Manager as "unknown device" requires it's full install. But overall it isn't necessary to change any drivers given by the installer or optional Updates unless performance dictates.

Yeah things like setpoint and samsungs dr. Printer did need to get installed for full feature access but that was to be expected, that my printer would print immediately after the os install wasn't. But man was that nice!

All-in-one printers need the full software package to get the Scanner to come up on the desktop when run.

Otherwise you can rightclick Scan on the printer in Printers and Devices to use the built-in utility which is less full-featured but works fine.

Touchpad software adds a right-hand scroll feature which some find distracting, but it can be turned off by disabling in msconfig>Startup.

I was surprised that even an old Epson CX3200 all-in-one printer had all the basic drivers installed on my x64 setup. Like gregrocker said I had to install the scanner uitlity to get more features but it's great that older hardware is supported too!!