User Guide

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 Features

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.

3.9.4 System Booster

 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.

3.9.5 System Cleanup

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.

3.10.4 Update



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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