Bad drivers and failed updates ...
Quote: ".... So far for me, everytime an update was installed that didn't work, Windows removed it and reverted to the old driver. "
How did you configure Windows to do that? Which versions of Windows have that "feature"? I've never found such a feature in Windows XP (32-bit) or in Windows 7 (64-bit). (I am not someone who considers himself a "wizard" and no doubt my questions reveal that I am not one.)
In my experience with Windows XP, Windows Update offered three "optional" driver updates respectively for the monitor, the printer, and the mouse. Each of them caused problems for which there was no remedy, other than manually replacing each one with the driver that was previously installed.
So, I have configured Windows 7 to never install driver updates automatically. I assume that they will be offered as "optional" updates -- although the wording for that option, in the context in which it is presented, could imply that they will not be offered at all. (So it appears to me to betray a hostile attitude from MS).
If Microsoft Update or Windows Update presents a driver update as an optional update, then I will consider it on a case-by-case basis.
That said: so far, the Windows 7 updating procedure's attempt to install each of three downloaded important updates has failed (out of a long list of updates which it installed successfully). Microsoft tech support continues to insist that if I simply run Windows Update again, then it will download the failed updates and install them. Unfortunately, though, Windows 7 has never done that. As far as I can determine, once an update has been downloaded, it is never offered subsequently, for any reason.
MS tech support did find a separate way to update the software with two updates which Windows 7 failed to install. The procedure was long and somewhat complex, and, frankly, there was no way to independently verify that the software was actually updated with those patches.
However, the 90-day "free" support period has expired; I am not going to pay MS $60/hour to figure out how to install the third failed update that has occurred since then.
What really irks me is that MS will not acknowledge that running Windows Update again to re-install a failed update does not cause it to be downloaded again. So MS has not done anything to remedy it.
