TechRadar Verdict

Driver Genius 22 Platinum performs its primary task of managing your device drivers excellently. You can always know which drivers are outdated and update them with one click. It’s a handy tool for whoever owns or manages a computer or groups of computers.

Pros

+
Automatic notifications and updates
+
Easy to install and use
+
Boosts your PC’s performance
+
Vast database of over 2 million drivers

Cons

-
Pricey
-
It doesn’t always find all missing drivers

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If you’re assigned the task of keeping several computers up to date, you should know how challenging it is to ensure they’re running the latest drivers at all times. Driver Genius 22 Platinum is a driver updater software suite that automatically scans your computer and tells you which drivers you should update.

BVRP, a French software company, is the manufacturer of the software. It uses the Avanquest name for many of its products.

We’ll review the software based on specific criteria, including pricing, customer support, compatibility, features, and user-friendliness.

Plans and pricing

Avanquest Driver Genius 22 is available in three versions. The first version is a time-limited free trial that excludes some full software features such as driver backups and restores.

Driver Genius 22 Professional Edition is the second version, costing $30 per year. It’s the full version of the software but without certain features such as System Booster and SSD Speeder. These features are reserved for Driver Genius 22 Platinum Edition, costing $60 per year. The Platinum version is our review’s focus.

There’s a 60-day money-back guarantee for your purchase. You can pay an extra $9.95 if you want it delivered in a disc format to your address.

Automated Driver Detection — Driver Genius 22 automatically detects and updates your device drivers (Image credit: Avanquest Software)

Features

Automatic Driver Detection

It lets you set schedules to analyze your drivers automatically and report which ones are outdated or defective. Afterward, you can update or download new ones right away.

Driver Genius Platinum scans your drivers against a database of over 2 million drivers.

Backup and Restore

With this software, you can back up your drivers and restore them when needed. You can choose to back up all your currently used drivers, the original Windows drivers, or select them individually, among other options.

This feature is essential because some driver updates could cause system malfunctions. If you fall into this category, you can just restore the backup version of whichever driver is causing the issue to fix it.

Driver Cleanup

This feature allows you to eliminate invalid driver packages from your computer. Doing this frees up space that your system will utilize for other tasks and perform better.

System Booster

This feature lets you optimize your entire system in one click. It includes;

Memory configuration
Advanced management of Windows services
Optimization tools for system files

SSD Speeder

You can optimize your system to enhance the performance and reliability of your solid-state drives. SSD Speeder and System Booster are exclusive features for the Platinum edition.

Compatibility

It’s compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11.

Interface and in use

Driver Genius 22 Platinum has a professional, friendly user interface. We tested it on a Windows 10 laptop and got good results. It found ten drivers needing updates, which we promptly did. It took just one click to update all the required drivers.

The main menu includes all the app’s primary features. You can see clear options for

Driver Update
Driver Backup
Driver Restore
Driver Cleanup
Toolkit

The Toolkit section includes additional features such as hardware information, system transfer assistance, and fixing sound problems.

Driver Genius 22 is well-organized and free from clutter. It scores very high on user-friendliness.

Support

24/7 technical support is available if you’re a paid user. The free version lacks any technical support. You can contact the company directly through email or telephone. According to the official website, it responds to email queries within 24 hours during working days.

Avanquest also has a user guide and Frequently Answered Questions (FAQ) page published.

The competition

IObit Driver Booster 9 Pro is significantly cheaper than Driver Genius 22 Platinum. It costs $40 per year and scans from a database of over 8 million drivers.

Avast Driver Updater is also cheaper. It costs $40 per year and has a database of over 8 million drivers.

Final verdict

Driver Genius 22 Platinum’s features such as Driver Update, Driver Cleanup, Driver Backup, and Driver Restore were sufficient to keep the drivers of the laptop we tested it on in good shape. However, it had some drawbacks, such as not finding as many drivers compared to a competitor like Avast. We hope that Avanquest expands its drivers' database to catch up with the competition.

We've also highlighted the best driver update software

Stefan has always been a lover of tech. He graduated with an MSc in geological engineering but soon discovered he had a knack for writing instead. So he decided to combine his newfound and life-long passions to become a technology writer. As a freelance content writer, Stefan can break down complex technological topics, making them easily digestible for the lay audience.

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