Safety Steps for Driver Upgrades in Windows 7

July 5, 2:27 PMLA Computers ExaminerCirce Denyer

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I had a recent experience with a Windows Update for the NVidia driver on the GT8800. The update came in as part of the Windows 7  update and should have been OK.

I was interested in this particular upgrade because the system I built and was testing Windows 7 on was having some small issues with display. The windows would not stay put in a position on one of two displays. Sizing dialog boxes had also been an issue. Dialog boxes would "slide" down the screen further sinking into the taskbar upon each open.

I had read where NVidia was partnering with Microsoft to provide working drivers under the new Windows 7 operating system.

The upgrade installed with no errors and it appeared that there were no issues. Then came the first "blue screen of death", a blue and white text-only screen that explains the error. The blue screen was a repeatable process so I knew the driver was at fault. I was able to restore the machine to a previous driver due to the option in the driver window.

The properties dialog box for the video driver has a button labeled "Roll Back Driver" with "If the device fails after updating the driver, roll back to a previously installed driver" description.

This process allowed me rollback that upgrade only and not all the other Windows Updates that were also installed.

RESTORE POINT - WINDOWS SAFETY VALVE

I recommend creating a restore point using the System Restore Utility included in the operating system before doing any Windows Updates to your system in Windows 7. Even though Windows 7 has been in public beta testing, it will evolve for a period of time after the retail release.

You can start the restore point Utility by typing "restore point" in the Search Programs and Files box that appears at the bottom of the Programs menu when you click the start button in Windows 7.  Choose "Create a Restore Point" from the list that appears at the top of the results.

Label the restore point by your own recognizable name. i.e "Before Video Driver Upgrade" . 

The restore point will be created.

Now, if anything goes haywire, you can roll back to the previous point and prevent an unstable system.