Even if you don't realise it, drivers - the little programs that make all your various PC hardware components talk to each other and live in harmony together - are the bane of every PC user's life. Most of us typically rely on Windows Update to find and download the necessaries, because we don't know (or can't be bothered) where to look for the individual updates that component manufacturers post on their web sites.

The trouble is, out-of-date drivers don't necessarily cause system problems that are obvious: they can simply gum up the works or cause odd incompatibilities with other parts of the system that gobble up resources and generally give your PC the electronic hiccups.

The idea behind Driver Genius, then, is to replace manual searching with something a bit more structured.

Like anti-virus software, Driver Genius needs to be up to date, so when the program loads for the first time it'll connect to the driver database and download the latest updates before scanning your PC to look for problems and out of date drivers. Then it lets you back-up the various kinds of existing drivers on a PC: those currently in use, the ones that came with Windows and those that work with devices that aren't currently attached to the PC. All good stuff.

Having identified the drivers that are past their sell-by date, Driver Genius lets you select which ones to update. Giving you a choice like that isn't as daft as it sounds, because it's not always a good idea to keep updating drivers willy-nilly, especially for musicians, for example, who sometimes need to spend time tweaking their sound set-up in order to make it work smoothly with sequencers and samplers.

The tally on our system? Graphics driver (eight months out of date) sound card (two and a half years) network adaptor (two and a half years) various system devices (three years) hard disk controller (three years) and USB controllers (three years); 170MB in all, and we use Windows Update regularly. It just goes to show.

Installing all these drivers in one go is probably asking for it, so Driver Genius downloads them to a folder so you can install them one at a time: just close your other programs first and off you go.

Although the scanning, backing up and downloading is all very slick, there's nothing Driver Genius can do about the various installation programs your drivers will come with, so expect the usual Windows shenanigans (particularly with Vista) where the system kicks up fretful ‘no driver installed' messages while you're trying to install the replacement.

Apart from that, it's hard to fault this product. Up to date drivers can help you get more from the PC you already own by minimising problems, taking advantage of improved performance and extending the working life of an older machine. Run it a couple of times a year and you should be laughing.

Verdict
For the price of a couple of large pizzas, why not introduce a bit of structure into the way you keep an eye on your PC drivers? Driver Genius Professional 8 will monitor those important behind-the-scenes utilities and help keep your PC running smoothly with the minimum of effort.

Company: Avanquest

Contact: 01962 835053

Tags: microsoft windows windows update device driver windows vista windows antivirus software uploading and downloading operating system