Product
introduction and Features
1.1
Product introduction
1.2
Features
1.2.1
Drivers Update
1.2.2
Roll Back Drivers
1.2.3
Drivers Backup
1.2.4
Drivers Restore
1.2.5
Drivers Cleanup
1.2.6
Live Update
1.2.7
Hardware Info
1.2.8 Hardware monitoring
1.2.9 Clean Invalid Device
1.2.10 System Transfer Assistant
1.2.11 SSD Speeder
1.2.12 System Booster
1.2.13 System Cleanup
1.3 What can I
do with Driver Genius?
Install and Uninstall
2.1
System Requirements
2.2
Install and Register
2.3
Uninstall
Usage
3.1
What is a driver?
3.2
Windows has already installed a driver for a device, why need I
update it?
3.3
Launch Driver Genius and Find/Update Drivers
3.3.1
Roll back Drivers
3.4
Backup drivers
3.5
Backup drivers in command line
3.6
Restore drivers
3.7
Driver Cleanup
3.8
Live Update
3.9
Hardware Information
3.9.1
Clean Invalid Device
3.9.2
System Transfer Assistant
3.9.3
SSD Speeder
3.9.4
System Booster
3.9.5
System Cleanup
3.10
Options
3.10.1
General Options
3.10.2
Backup Options
3.10.3
Restore Options
3.10.4
Update Options
3.10.5
Download Options
3.10.6
Monitoring
Chapter
One Product introduction and Features
1.1
Product introduction
Driver Genius manages your PC to get 100% up to date Drivers and
optimize PC performance. Driver Genius is a powerful driver manager
for Windows that can update, backup and restore your drivers with just
a few clicks.
1.2.1 Drivers Update: Are you still using old drivers, or beta versions? These faulty drivers often cause compatibility problems and are one of the main causes of system crashes. A suitable driver can improve hardware performance by 50% or more. Our Driver Genius Database contains information on more than 160,000 device drivers, including Motherboards, Sound cards, Video cards, Network cards, Modems, Mice, Keyboards, Scanners, Printers, Digital devices, etc. With one mouse click, Driver Genius can detect what drivers need updating. All the drivers we offer are either official or WHQL version ones--you can use them with peace of mind.
1.2.2 Roll Back Drivers: Driver Genius can roll back a driver to its previous version independently now. If the device can not work after updating the driver, roll back to the previously installed version one.
1.2.3 Drivers Backup: Driver Genius can detect and quickly back up the drivers installed in your system. It can compress the backup drivers to a zip file, a self extracting file, or an independent auto-installer program.
1.2.4 Drivers Restore: You need not install drivers one by one after reinstalling your operating system. Just one click is all you need to install all your backup drivers automatically. You can also install drivers in command mode silently.
1.2.5 Drivers Cleanup: There could be some drivers left over on your system due to hardware changes or previous driver updates. After a few time the size of those invalid drivers will grow bigger and bigger that can slowdown your system performance significantly. Driver Genius can quickly find and uninstall these useless drivers to free up more system resource to keep your system running smoothly.
1.2.6 Live Update: You can easily download the latest version Driver Genius by the LiveUpdate function. The new version program can bring more features or enhancements except bugs fixed.
1.2.7
Hardware Info
This tool can be used to display detailed information about your
computers hardware such as CPU, Motherboard, Video card, Hard disk and
so on.
1.2.8
Hardware Monitoring
Temperature monitor for CPU, Display card and HDD. High Temperature
can permanently damage your PC. Driver Genius can play sound or limit
the CPU performance if your computer is overheated.
1.2.9
Clean Invalid Device
Some invalid devices data will still remain in system after you
replace or unplug devices. This tool can help you to clean the invalid
devices data entirely from your system.
1.2.10 System Transfer
Assistant
System transfer assistant can make your network be able to work after
installing operation system.
1.2.11 SSD Speeder
The SSD Speeder optimizes your system to improve your disk performance
and reliability. This tool can also optimize your system by adjusting
some system options.
1.2.12 System Booster
The System Booster can optimize your system performance by adjusting
some system options and servers.
1.2.13
System Cleanup
The System Cleanup can help you to clean up the temporary files and
cache files or other junk files in system.
1.3 What can I do with
Driver Genius?
Keep your drivers up to date.
Quickly back up device drivers for your computer.
Install all your drivers with just one click.
Scan and fix driver problems to keep your system running smoothly.
Clean the invalid devices data entirely from your system.
Protect CPU, Display card and HDD in case of overheated.
Optimize your system to improve your disk performance and reliability
Chapter
Two Install and Uninstall
2.1
System Requirements
Pentium class CPU
256 Mb RAM
100 Mb hard drive space
Microsoft Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11 (32bit & 64bit), Windows Server
2003/2008(32bit & 64bit), Windows Server 2008 R2/2012 R2
2.2
Install and register
Step 1: Startup
your computer to enter the Windows.
Step 2: Insert
the distribution CD of the Driver Genius software into the CD-ROM. Run
"DG_setup.exe” in the root directory of the CD and follow the
installation wizard.
Step 3: Step 3:
In the dialog box of "Language select", select the language version to
install, then click "OK" to begin installing the software;
Step 4: Read the
"License Agreement”. Click "I accept the agreement" and "Next" to go
on, otherwise click " I don’t accept the agreement” to exit setup.
Step 5: Here
user can choose whether create a shortcut on desktop after installing
program or not. Click [Next] to continue.
Step 6:
'Create a desktop shortcut' task now is displayed in the
[Ready to Install] window. Click [Install] to copy files after your
confirmation.
The installation program
will download the most recent version driver database and main program
online when installing Driver Genius
Step 7: You can
choose [Launch Driver Genius] and select [Finish] to start the program
in the [Competing the Driver Genius setup wizard] window after
finishing copying files.
Step 8: Driver
Genius will scan driver updates for system after clicking 'Start Scan'
button, meanwhile, Driver Genius will check the driver database
version when scanning driver updates.
Step 9: Driver
Genius will list all driver updates after scanning windows system.
Just click 'Update ALL' Button to update all drivers. You can also
click the 'Update' button besides each driver to update some drivers
individually.
To view a driver's provider, date, version information, click 'View driver update details' below each driver. Click 'More details about the driver update' to check the driver release notes that detail the corrections, changes or enhancements made to the service or product the hardware company provides.
Step 10: Driver
Genius will prompt you to enter the license code and open the purchase
link if it hasn't been registered yet after clicking 'Update drivers
now' button.
Step
11: In the window "Register Driver Genius ", please enter
the correct serial number (which is stuck on the Software CD or shown
in the license email), then click "Register" to continue. The program
will prompt to restart to validate license code. After registering,
you can check ‘Help’ menu, choose ‘About’ option to check whether the
registration is successful or not.
You can also choose ‘Help’ menu, click’ Enter code’ option or just
click the green 'Enter Code' button in the lower left corner to
register Driver Genius.
2.3
Uninstall
To remove the program, click the 'Start' menu button
and select 'All Programs', then find Driver Genius. Click the 'Uninstall
Driver Genius' submenu. You can also uninstall the program
from Control panel by clicking the ' Programs and Features'
icon > Locate and single-click 'Driver Genius'>
Click the 'Remove' button to uninstall it.
Chapter
Three Usage
3.1
What is a driver?
Drivers are programs that allow your operating system to communicate
with hardware devices. They tell the operating system which devices
have been installed as well as their function.
3.2 Windows has already installed a driver
for a device, why need I update it?
Drivers provided by Windows only offer basic device performance. To
get optimal performance, you must install the latest drivers provided
by the manufacturer. The most important thing to note is that the
drivers provided by Windows do not contain a control panel for
hardware configuration. For example, if you don't install the latest
drivers provided by the manufacturer for video cards, you cannot
configure the video card's OpenGL and Direct3D options. This can
noticeably lowers the quality and FPS of 3D images in games. Similarly
with sound cards, Windows drivers cannot offer EAX sound effects, 3D
sound effects, or Dolby multi-channel surround stereo. Installing a
suitable driver enhances device performance.
3.3 Launch Driver Genius and Find/Update
Drivers
You can launch the main program of Driver Genius by the ways as
bellow:
Double click the shortcut icon of Driver Genius on Windows desktop.
Please check that you are running under an Administrator
account before loading Driver Genius.
Select the Windows menu of "Start" / "All Programs" / “Driver Genius
(you can also find the 'Driver Genius icon' in the new start screen of
Windows 8/10)"
Please click 'Start Scan' button to scan for driver updates. Driver
Genius will check the driver database version automatically when
scanning driver updates.
Driver Genius can recognize over 160,000 devices and offer their
latest version drivers. It can recognize the devices even you don't
know their model and type.
A last scan driver updates log also shows here, click a driver name to
view the driver update details. You can find all the updated drivers
by clicking 'View update history' button, click the 'Reinstall' button
beside each driver name to install the driver update again.
Click 'Update All ' button to automatically download and install new drivers for your system. You can also click the 'Update' button besides each driver to update some drivers individually.
To view a driver's provider, date, version information, click 'View driver update details' below each driver. Click 'More details about the driver update' to check the driver release notes that detail the corrections, changes or enhancements made to the service or product the hardware company provides.
Resume updating
If an update procedure failed because of a network problem or because it was stopped, you can resume updating where it left off. Just click the 'Update' button besides the driver to continue updating it.
The default path for save driver updates
Windows 2000 & Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\DriverGenius\Downloads
Windows Vista & Windows 7/8/8.1/10
C:\ProgramData\DriverGenius\Downloads
Hiding driver updates
Please right click the driver update and
choose 'Hide this driver update' if you don't want to update a driver.
You can also click the 'Restore hidden driver updates' button in the
lower right corner to restore it at any time. The hidden driver won't
be listed in the update driver list until there is a newer version
driver is available.
To restore hidden drivers, click the 'Restore hidden driver updates'
button and select drivers, then click 'Restore' button to restore
driver updates.
Auto Update
Click ‘Options' --- ‘Auto Update' to
define a schedule for the driver auto update.
Driver Genius can scan driver updates and download, even install them
silently in background automatically when they are available. The Auto
Update scheduler will run at scheduled intervals. When Windows loads,
it will automatically run the driver update process according to
users' will.
3.3.1
Roll back drivers
Driver Genius can roll back a driver to its previous version
independently now. If the device can not work after updating the
driver, roll back to the previously installed version one.
To roll back drivers
1. Click the 'View update history' button in home window.
2. Click the 'Roll Back Driver' button beside a driver update to roll back to its previously installed version one. Besides, you can click the 'Reinstall' button to reinstall the driver update again here. You can also delete a driver update file by selecting the checkbox beside the driver and click the 'Delete' button below to free up more disk space.
3.4
Backup drivers
You should back up your drivers before reinstalling the operating
system or updating drivers. To back up your drivers:
1> Click the 'Backup Drivers' icon. The program
searches for all drivers installed in current system. A list of
installed drivers appears in the right window pane. To view details of
a device driver, click the device in the list. The details are
displayed in the window.
Current used Drivers
These drivers are currently being used on your computer. They need to
be backed up.
Original Windows Drivers
These drivers are included in the Windows installation CD and are
installed automatically during the Windows installation procedure.
They normally do not need to be backed up.
Disconnected Devices
Drivers
These drivers belong to devices which are not currently connected to
your computer. If you want to use these devices in the future, their
drivers must be installed on your PC. Therefore, you need to back them
up. This is very important when installing drivers on a clean,
newly-installed operating system.
1> Select the drivers that you want to back up and click 'Next'. By
default all drivers will be backed up. This will take more time and
disk space, so you may want to back up only the currently used
drivers.
2> Select the Backup type. Driver Genius can back up drivers to a
ZIP file, a self-extractor, or an Auto-Installer. Click the drop down
menu -> Select the Backup type. Choose from the 4 options
available. If you want to install drivers on multiple computers with
the same configuration, we strongly recommend you should back up the
drivers to an auto-installer. You can use the Auto-Installer to
install drivers on a new system very quickly without Driver Genius,
and thereby save lots of time. In addition, the trial version Driver
Genius can't backup drivers to an Auto-Installer.
3> Choose a location to save your driver backup files and click
'Next' to start the backup process.
Warning! Do not save the backup files in the partition where you
install Windows. All data in that partition will be lost during the
Windows installation process.
3.5
Backup drivers in command line
Driver Genius allows you to backup your drivers in command line mode.
Usage: DriverGenius.exe [/B|?] [/T|A] [/D|Z|E|I] Backup location
First parameter - Specify the action
/? - Show help for usage
/b - Backup drivers
Second parameter - Specify which drivers you want to backup
/t - Third-Party drivers (Recommend)
/a - All drivers
Third parameter - Specify the backup type
/d - Default backup type, backs up selected drivers to the specified
folder.
/z - Backs up selected drivers and make them to a ZIP file.
/e - Backs up selected drivers and make them to a self-extracting
file.
/i - Backs up selected drivers and make them to an Auto-Installer.
Fourth parameter - Specify the backup location
Example:
C:\Driver-Soft\DriverGenius\DriverGenius.exe /B/T/I
D:\DriversBackup.exe
3.6
Restore drivers
Restore drivers from a system restore point
Driver Genius will create a system restore point automatically before
updating drivers by default. You can restore drivers to the previous
state they were in before the selected event immediately if you didn't
backup drivers by Driver Genius before updating them. To restore
system:
1. Click the 'Restore Drivers' icon.
2. Select a system restore point in the list, then click 'Next' to
restore system.
Restore drivers from backup drivers
You need not install drivers one by one after reinstalling the
operating system if you have backed up drivers by Driver Genius
before. Just one click is all you need to install all your backup
drivers automatically. To restore a driver:
1. Click the 'Restore Drivers' icon.
2. Select the backup record you want restore from the record list,
then click 'Next'.
3. You can also restore drivers
from the appointed backup file. Click the 'Browse my computer for
backup drivers' button and then select the source type. If your backup
type is 'Default', select the 'Folder' option. If your backup type is
'ZIP file', or 'self-extracting file', please select the 'File'
option.
4. Click the 'Browse' button to choose the location for the backup
file, then click 'Next'.
5. Now your backup files and their details will appear in the list.
Select the driver you want to restore and click 'Next' to start
restoring.
Note: We suggest you close all
applications before restoration to avoid conflicts. Do not perform any
operations during the restoration process. You will be prompted to
restart your computer after restoration is complete. All your drivers
will be installed and will then work correctly after the system
reboot.
Restore by the Auto-Installer
If you have backed up your drivers to an auto-installer, all
you need to do is launch the .exe file, and select drivers in the
list. Then click the 'Start Restore' button to start their
installation. You can also perform an unattended installation by using
the command line mode. Using Auto-Installer, you can also reinstall
drivers on multiple computers that have the same configuration at one
time. This is another time-saving feature of Driver Genius.
Usage DriverBackup.exe /S/R
/S : Silent mode, restore all drivers automatically in silent mode.
(No prompt dialog box appears.)
/R : Reboot computer after the installation has completed.
3.7
Drivers Cleanup
There could be some drivers left over on your system due to hardware
changes or previous driver updates. After a few time the size of those
invalid drivers will grow bigger and bigger that can slowdown your
system performance significantly. Driver Genius can quickly find and
uninstall these useless drivers to free up more system resource to
keep your system running smoothly.
1> Click 'Driver Cleanup' icon, the program will search for all
invalid drivers in your computer.
2> Select the invalid drivers and click 'next' to cleanup them.
3.8 Live
Update
You can easily download the latest version Driver Genius by the
LiveUpdate function. The new version program can bring more features
or enhancements except bugs fixed. To start the Liveupdate, click the
'Check for Updates' icon in the lower right corner of
the window.
Privacy Statement
LiveUpdate will not gather or send any information from your computer.
3.9
Hardware Information
This tool can be used to display detailed information about your
computers hardware such as CPU, Motherboard, Video card, Hard disk and
so on. You can click the 'Create Report' button below to create a txt
format hardware information report and mail to us if needed.
3.9.1
Clean Invalid Device
Some invalid devices data will still remain in system after you
replace or unplug devices. This tool can help you to clean the invalid
devices data entirely from your system.
Click 'Toolkit' --> 'Clean Invalid Device' to run
Choose the devices you need to clean, then click 'Next'
Attention: All external
devices such as USB portable hard disk, printer and scanner will be
regarded as invalid devices. You don't need to clean the data if these
devices will still be used in the future.
3.9.2
System Transfer Assistant
System transfer assistant can make your network be able to work after
installing operation system.
Click 'Toolkit' -->
'System transfer assistant' to run
Select the operation system you will install. All network cards and network settings in current system will be listed here. Check 'Backup network settings' option to backup current wireless network settings. Click 'Browse' button to choose a place to save your file. We suggest you should save the file in your USB hard disk or flash drive in case of losing it during installing system.
Click 'Next' button to create the backup file
To restore your network after reinstalling system, just click the auto-installer package to install the network driver and restore your previous network settings.
3.9.3
SSD Speeder
The SSD Speeder optimizes your system to improve your disk performance
and reliability. This tool can also optimize your system by adjusting
some system options.
Click 'System Optimize' --> 'SSD speeder' to run
Driver info window shows your SSD drive summary.
The System optimization tool can optimize your system by adjusting some system options. Just click the 'Recommended Settings' button to optimize system easily.
This function performs TRIM command on the selected SSD. The TRIM command allows an operating system to inform a SSD drive which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally. After trimming, the SSD will not preserve any contents of the block when writing new data to a page of flash memory, resulting in less write amplification (fewer writes), higher write throughput (no need for a read-erase-modify sequence), thus increasing drive life.
The System Booster can optimize your system performance by adjusting some system options and servers.
Click 'System Optimize' --> 'System Booster' to run.
You can restore to the windows default settings anytime in case of any problems.
Click 'System Optimize' --> 'System Cleanup' to run.
Disk Cleanup can help you to clean up the temporary files and cache files or other junk files in system to free up disk space. It can also clean cookies and history of your internet browser to protect your privacy.
Automatic Cleanup
Regularly cleanup system automatically by setting a scheduled task
There must be some pre-installed apps from Windows 8/8.1/10 you don’t need. The system Cleanup can help you to uninstall them.
3.10
Options
3.10.1
General
Language
Change user interface languages.
Text Size
Change program font size
Minimize main window
to system tray
Minimize main window to system tray, you can restore it by
click the program icon on the system tray.
Skip User Account Control prompt
Disable the User Account Control prompt when loading Driver Genius.
Check for updates automatically
Check for the program update in free time.
3.10.2
Backup
Backup Type
Default - Backup the drivers to a specified folder.
Backup the drivers to ZIP
compressed file - Backup your drivers, and compress them to
a ZIP file.
Backup the drivers to EXE self-decompressed file - Back up your
drivers, and compress them to a self-extracting file.
Backup the drivers to an
EXE auto-installer package - Back up your drivers and
create an auto-installer that can run independently.
Split to
volumes
Fill in the size of every split volume.
Compression
None - No compression.
Low - Fastest Compression speed, but the compression ratio
is the smallest.
Normal -
Standard ZIP compress ratio (recommended).
Maximum - The
biggest compression ratio, but compression speed is slow.
3.10.3
Restore
Show alert message when I start Restore drivers
Displays warning message before driver restoration begins to
avoid incorrect operations.
Show alert message if the
driver is not compatible
Shows alert message if the driver is not compatible. This is
done to avoid incorrect driver installation which can cause a system
crash.
Prompt
Program prompt to reboot after restoration is complete.
Reboot computer
reboots after restoration is complete without prompting.
Download Folder
All downloaded drivers will be saved to this folder
Create a system restore
point before installing driver update
If you select this option, Driver Genius will create a system restore
point on your computer before installing the driver update.
Silent Installation
Uncheck this option if you don't want Driver Genius to install driver
updates automatically after clicking the 'Update All' button. Driver
Genius will only download driver updates. You need install all driver
updates manually.
Delete the driver update
installed that over 30 days
There will be some backup files and temporary files left after
updating drivers each time. As time goes by these files could take up
much disk space. This option can help you to cleanup these useless
files regularly and automatically.
Auto Update
Driver Genius can scan driver updates and download, even install them
silently in background automatically when they are available. The Auto
Update scheduler will run at scheduled intervals. When Windows loads,
it will automatically run the driver update process according to
users' will.
3.10.5
Download
Internet Connection
Use Internet Options Settings - Connect internet with
Windows Internet Options settings. You can change the settings in
Windows Control Panel -> Internet Options.
Use proxy server - Connect
internet with proxy server.
Time Out
Connect time out - Time of connect time out, default value
is 30 seconds.
Connect retry delay -
Time of connect retry delay if connect fails, default value is 10
seconds.
Connect retry count - Counts of connect retry if connect
fails, default value: 3.
3.10.6 Monitoring
Temperature monitor for CPU, Display card and HDD. High Temperature
can permanently damage your PC. This tool can play sound or limit the
CPU performance if your computer is overheat.
Enable hardware monitoring.
Temperature monitor for CPU, Display card and HDD. High Temperature
can permanently damage your PC. This tool can play sound or limit the
CPU performance if your computer is overheated.
Enable floating window.
A floating window that can show your CPU, Display card and HDD
Temperature in real time.
Play sound
Driver Genius will give out a warning sound if the hardware
temperature is over the setting one.
Limit CPU performance
Driver Genius will send directive to limit CPU performance to cool
system if CPU temperature is over the setting one.
Note: CPU performance will be recovery if the program is closed.
Chapter Four Frequently Asked Questions
4.1
How to activate your program
Click 'Help' menu -> 'Enter Code... ' or just click the
'Enter Code' button in the lower left corner.
The registration code is "xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx- xxxxxx
".Please keep in mind that registration code are case-sensitive, you'd
better copy the registration information then paste them to the
registration form.
4.2
How to install new drivers to your computer
Commonly, most of drivers can be installed silently and automatically
by Driver Genius after clicking the' Update All' button. But some
drivers just can't be installed automatically because of their own
reason. For example, the Realtek Cardreader driver. These drivers
can't be installed silently and automatically by Driver Genius, you
have to install them manually.
Click the 'Install' button after the driver was downloaded completely, then leave the rest to Driver Genius. The program will install the driver automatically at this moment.
Chapter five Contact and Support
Before contacting us with your support questions, please review our
FAQ in Chapter three. Any questions will be processed within 12 hours
during the working days.
Order/Registration/Software Upgrade Questions
Please contact sales@driver-soft.com
Technology Questions
Please contact support@driver-soft.com
Any Suggestions or other Questions
Please contact webmaster@driver-soft.com
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