AutoDesk 3DS Max crashing/BSOD

This post is for people who have legal copies of AutdoDesk 3DS Max 2010 but are experience a specific set of problems. The problems include:
The program crashing.
The program crashing and freezing up the entire computer requiring a forced restart.
The program causing Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).
The program causing any of the above and corrupting the file afterward.

The specs for the computer that have this problem are:

AMD Phenom II X4 920 2.8GHz
GIGABYTE GA-MA790
2x 4GB G.SKILL DDR2 800 (8GB)
EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W
Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache
Microsoft Windows Vista 64Bit Premium Home

As you can tell, this computer is not a push over. All components come from well known manufacturers and it's been running fine for a year now. There is no *hardware* reason for the problems this program is having.

Steps I've taken to reduce, but not eliminate the problem:

1. Installed latest 3DS Max Patch.
   
2. Uninstalled current nVidia driver and anything related to it.
3. Downloaded current driver from EVGA, not nVidia's website.
4. Downloaded and installed Driver Sweeper from Guru3D.
5. Went into SAFE MODE on Vista.
6. Ran Driver Sweeper in SAFE MODE. Restarted into SAFE MODE again.
7. Cleaned the STARTUP programs in SAFE MODE. Only allowed Firewall/Antivirus to run.
8. Vista Automatically found drivers. I let it install it's default drivers. (I'm pretty sure you can disable this option and just install EVGA drivers.)
9. Restarted to regular Vista. Let it finish installing drivers.

The above has worked reasonably well. It has not eliminated the BSOD but has reduced it to a tolerable level. The program can now work for long periods of time on a larger scene, though will occasionally BSOD when working on small, simplier objects. File corruption still occures after a crash.

Next on the list: Install Hotfixes. I'm not sure if these are included in the Service Patch I installed.

It's interesting to note that my husband has the Home version of Vista, which Autodesk doesn't mention on its System Requirements page. Could there be some sort of conflict with the program and Vista Home? I just find that very hard to believe, but I suppose it's a possibility. (Why didn't they include Home anyway? Do most Students have Professional or something?)

What is really causing this BSOD? I wish I could find out what in the drivers is causing the conflict. Would using an older version of nVidia drivers help?

Well, we shall see! If there's anyone out there who has had a similar problem and found a fix, please post here to let me know!