any time i try to install an optional update, it just sits forever at the 'creating system restore point' until finally it kicks back out and says it failed. i'm trying to update my geforce drivers using that, since, when i try to update the drivers with nVidia's download, it says there are one or more microsoft hardware installation wizards are active, and won't install anything either. another thing that happened is, i was trying to install a demo of a game (burnout paradise from nvidia's website), it hangs up as well.

the error given when i try to use the system update is 800f0246. required and recommended updates seem to install just fine, automatically. what's the problem?