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I recently received a new PC from HP, and was very anxious to get it up and running. I already owned an Officejet 7410xi, and I had only good things happen with it on my old PC, which ran with Windows XP. The new PC is loaded with Vista Ultimate 64-bit, and I was all fired up....
I loaded the software for the printer, and didn't even sit in front of the monitor to watch... When I came back to see how things were going, I was able to print and thought that life was good. Yesterday, I was asked to fax a document. This was something that I had done countless times before, from my old PC. I looked and looked... On my desktop I cannot find the familiar HP Director icon..., and the only listed program under HP was HP Update. Right away, I knew I wasn't going to like what was coming.
Using my printers model number, I searched on-line and found an article titled "HP Director and Windows Vista Capatibility." In the article it emphatically states that the HP Director is not compatible with Windows Vista. The solution -- according to HP's claim -- is to download the necessary software to install the HP Solution Center; the file to be downloaded being dependant upon printer and OS software.
I followed the links, and eventually downloaded a file, <AIO_CDB_Full_Network_enu.exe, (1/1 , 163.07M) > and installed same. With the HP Solution Center, I was able to scan the document.... I had used the Scan to Fax option, and after the image was ready, the second step of the process began. I filled in the name and fax number as required, but when I looked to include the fax Cover-sheet, the possibility did not exist. 
NOT!
I got on-line, and literally wasted better than 45 minutes, looking for solutions, and then contacting HP Customer Support. The "Full Feature Software and Drivers" I had downloaded from HP was -- from my perspective -- a worthless band-aid, that claimed to be something it is not. I repeatedly asked, where are the Fax Cover-sheets, which I was so accustomed to using?
Oh,...according to some guru who called himself Pierce, "I am afraid to inform you that HP has removed fax cover page feature for Vista. However, you can download the fax cover page templates from the HP website."
Silly me, I asked what I would do with a template! He wanted me to scan my document to Word. But, after loading this "Full Feature Software" I did not find that I had that option! And there are even fewer options if I were to scan a picture!
So, my All-in-One Printer has become a Less-than-Some, due to the whims of those who don't care... And the link to those templates from the HP website, it brought me directly to Microsoft.
So far, the HP Customer Support and backing of its Printer Products leaves more than just a little to be desired. The guru, Pierce, went on about setting up a document in Word, and incorporating the Coversheet in that document....
I told him, "I'm clever enough to figure that out. I want to know how to get a coversheet on a scanned image that I have ready to be faxed. You will tell me that I must first insert that image into Word. Not an elegant solution. Your Printer no longer functions as it did. Where can I get a refund? Instead of being the All-in-One tool for my home office, it is the Ever-so-Cumbersome work-around device, which has you doing interim steps instead of getting the job done!
When can I (...OR, WE) expect to see the solution to the Solution Center?
P.S. That is not all that is wrong with it! There's the matter of Duplex Printing that is now printing half my documents upside-down, making it impossible to put any printed documents into folders or binders.
Or the fact that, from within Word, I can no longer print to Fax. $%^&@ I have a dedicated fax line connected to my 7410xi, and Word (and Vista) are asking that I connect to a fax-modem or server. What is my All-in-One good for?
