Driver

The Genius SlimStar 8008 combo has a software driver that adds in more functionality. The driver, called Smart Genius, can be found here, and the installer is 82 MB. As seen in the GIF above, its installation is fairly straightforward, but there is no option to choose the install directory or have a shortcut in the start menu. For what it is worth, you do not need to restart the computer to get it working as is the case with most programs today. The installed driver takes up 201 MB and is light on system resources on recent-generation quad-core Intel CPU systems.


With both the mouse and keyboard powered on and connected via the provided dongle, the driver should start and recognize both to then open up a unified window as seen above. I am impressed with the ease of use here, and Genius has definitely done some UX research based on my experience with it. It scales well on a 4K display at over 100% OS scaling as well, and there were been no bugs or even delays in applying changes.

There was no firmware or driver update necessary here, so I directly moved to taking a look at what the driver offered. Since the mouse is a part of the combo and featured in the driver first, I began with it. You have the option to swap the functionality of the left and right buttons if you are left-handed, and the ambidextrous nature of the mouse aids here also. The mouse wheel can be used as a zoom control in specific applications, which can in turn be made use of via the profiles that are supported here. These are software profiles, not saved to the device, and these need the driver to at least be running in the system tray to be used. Other options include pointer-, scroll-, and double-click speed, all things that can also be configured natively in Windows, though it's good to have them here in a single place as well. There are some helpful cues which will ease your user experience further, although the settings are mostly self-explanatory if you have used a mouse for a while before.

The keyboard gets the same treatment when it comes to virtual profiles that can be associated with specific applications, and then there is the assigned functionality to the Fn row. To be clear, these actuate when you use Fn + the specific function key, but the driver helps add in the so-called smart features here. Out of the box, the F1-F12 keys have been pre-programmed for specific tasks as seen above, which are also listed in the provided user guide and on the packaging. But the driver helps you change things around; set up shortcuts, open web pages, multimedia options, open applications, or perform some system tasks, including shutting down the computer or opening the driver quickly.