Thanks for rounding off the discussion.
Nevertheless the would seem to be a VISTA driver in VISTA and I would
guess that the message shows the classic differing meaning between
"support" and "works" ! Ie HP won't help you solve problems but that is
not to say it will not work at least to a limited extent.
I heard back from my friend who does the technical side of retailing
and he confirmed that they get plenty of complaints about the F380 not
working at all or intermittently and confirms it really is "bottom of
the line" at the price it sells at.
Unless you are happy to have an excuse to replace it with something
better and supported by HP for VISTA I have two suggestions you could
try out. I'll assume all the previous stuff about cleaning up and not
having the USB cable plugged into the PC, in order to keep it short:
---------------------
1 -- Locate the downloaded Full file on your hard drive and right
mouse click on it and select Properties then select the Compatibility
TAB and check the box [x] Run as Administrator and carry on installing
from that point.
2 -- Go to the HP XP driver support page at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=
en&product=1128296&lang=en
and download the XP version:
HP Photosmart Software and Drivers: USB Support
07-2006 6.0.0a - 218.23M
Then (naturally all this is after removing all traces as before
especially if you tried Method 1 ) right mouse click on the downloaded
file, select Properties then select the Compatibility TAB and:
Check the upper compatibility box and select XP with SP2
Check the lower [x] Run as administrator box
and ok your way out to starting the installation again.
------------------------------
I have found that using the Run as Administrator command does overcome
some problems with installing and using software and I have also found
that setting the compatibility mode to use an earlier version of
software works remarkably well. I am running under VISTA software
issued for WIN95 and possibly earlier.
No guarantees but worth trying if you really don't want to replace the
F380.
If you want good advice from users on selecting another device to
replace the F380 and don't get it here try the Compuserve PC Hardware
Forum where there is a Print & Scan section. You don't have to be a
member any more -- just go to:
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ws-pchardware
and follow the login instructions.
Do let me know how you get on.