How to stop driver from installing repeatedly  

curator said:

Hi, I believe I have a unique trouble with my network adapter. It is installing every single time that windows starts, always behaving as a different piece of hardware thus driver is named like: "Atheros (...) Ethernet Controller #151" and increasing and what more, still having different MAC address. My problem is that my (legal) Windows (Win 7 Home Premium 64bit) after few startups starts thinking he is illegal every time I activate it by phone. I am beginning to be desperate about this. Over time I was thinking about several solutions to this but I am not capable of executing them alone. Two examples:

1.) One possibility is disabling automatic driver installation but in tutorials and forums it is done through pgedit.msc that is absent on Home Premium

2.) Disabling my network card completely (or removing it from my laptop) is also a way because I am using only wifi, but I havent found any way how to do it

... Network card is probably broken, so sending my nb to service could also work, but it is quite inconvenient considering time and money thrown away, i dont prefer this option

Could somebody help me solving this ? Any constructive idea is welcome.

Welcome to SevenForums,
your full system specs will help us when considering recommendations, please read, please follow the procedure listed below. I'll await the full system specs before making any suggestions.
Update your SevenForums System Specs
User CP (3rd item in the top menu bar) |
Your Profile | Edit System Spec (left-hand column)

To gather info, use SIW or Speccy or System Info

Add the word laptop or desktop or netbook to the
“system manufacturer” block, for example,
Toshiba Satellite L305D notebook.

Provide full windows version info, for example:
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Use the “Other Info” block for Optical Reader,
Mouse, touchpad, wifi adapter, speakers, monitor, etc

Scroll down and click on the SAVE CHANGES button.

Your complete specs will be very helpful. Also, if this is a PCI(E) or USB card clean out the ports with some rubbing alcohol and q-tips, allowing it to dry before use (a few minutes, five to ten ish)

Curator,

Now I don't expect these to solve your problems, but let's try:
First an earlier restore point.

Unless you have used some of that wonder-working, speed-up your computer software, then you have restore points which MS created automatically when installing software and on a few other occasions.

Here's how to restore your computer to an earlier point in time:

RESTORE TO A PREVIOUS SYSTEM RESTORE POINT
WIN | type SYSTEM RESTORE | ENTER | NEXT
Choose a different restore point button | NEXT |
Show more restore points checkbox (lower left)|
Highlight the desired restore point |
Scan for affected programs (lower right) |
make a note of affected programs |
CLOSE | NEXT | FINISH


WIN = key with the wavy Microsoft flag on top.

Excellent.

That means you have restore points.