Quickly Reset Your Graphics Driver

by Eric Wyatt
(last updated November 29, 2021)

Every so often, as we work on our computers, we might come across times where our machines begin to act slightly "off." The computer runs slow or just not quite right. The longer we use our computers, the more likely we are to run into situations in which we encounter strange behavior. When this happens, it can catch us off guard, and we resort to restarting our computer.

As you work on your computer, you might come across times when your display doesn't seem to work correctly. Your screen can appear frozen, your mouse or keyboard inputs don't respond, or perhaps your monitor is black. When these things happen, it could indicate something not working correctly with your graphics driver. Usually, during a restart, these graphic driver issues are taken care of as they are reset. But what happens if you're working on a project and this happens, and you can't afford a hard reboot of your system because you haven't saved your work yet?

There is an effortless way to see if restarting the graphics driver will fix the issue. By pressing Win+Ctrl+Shift+B you can tell Windows to restart your graphics driver without rebooting the entire computer.

While not a guaranteed fix, as there could be a myriad of reasons why your computer may have frozen or become unresponsive, you may discover that this simple move helps. If the issue is due to the graphics driver, this shortcut should fix the problem.

 This tip (12577) applies to Windows 10.

Author Bio

Eric Wyatt

Eric Wyatt is a swell guy (or so his friends tell him). He is a formally trained designer and branding expert, bringing a wide range of skills to his Tips.Net articles. ...

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