Avanquest Driver Genius 8 Professional

So you have your Windows backup disc and safe copies of all important documents, which is everything needed to restore a computer in the event of a problem, isn't it?

Well, not quite.

Drivers are essential files used by Windows to make the hardware in the computer work properly, but they're often forgotten. Without them the computer can only display the most basic of graphics and may not be able to connect to the internet.

Driver Genius is a utility that finds and backs up all of the driver files on a computer. On starting it scans for drivers and shows them in three categories: those currently in use, the original drivers for devices that came with Windows and drivers for devices that are not connected at the moment. The last category is a very useful touch, especially if you are using a notebook away from home.

The backup for our test notebook was about 56MB, which included the drivers but not the software that came with each device (for instance, a scanner requires both a driver and some software to actually make scans), so it's still important to hold on to the discs supplied with hardware.

The backup can also be made into one big package that can be used even if you don't reinstall Driver Genius. This is a good idea as many of the drivers are more obscure and it may not be obvious what they are for.

It can also check an online list for newer drivers once the computer has been scanned. It did find quite a few new drivers for us to install, including one device that hadn't been set up properly.

Driver Genius does fill a gap left by most backup software. Finding drivers is often the most frustrating part of getting a sick computer back on its feet, not least because there is no standard basic driver for network cards, let alone for something as complicated as a wireless network connection, and the ability to automatically update drivers is an added bonus.