Solved: Updating NVIDIA Video Drivers in Windows7 is impossible

Hello, I hope someone can help us.

We recently upgraded to windows 7 and we're trying to download and install the newest drivers for the EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 video card we have installed. However, updating through Windows doesn't work and despite taking, from what I've read everywhere, the proper steps to uninstall the old drivers the right way, as soon as windows loads after the restart it automatically installs a set of
old drivers (8.17.11.9621) without letting me choose which drivers I'd like to install (the latest ones seem to be 257.21). Is there anyway someone can PLEASE list the exact steps ,in order,
the procedure for properly updating NVIDIA Video drivers in Windows7. And yes... I've been searching on this site for hours & have not been able to find an answer to my problem. I've done everthing I've found that's been suggested, i.e. Disconnecting from the internet, turning off virus scans, restarting in Safe Mode...nothing works. My wife says this is a great place to find answers and we would appreciate any help
Some Specs:
Windows7 64-bit
Intel i7 CPU 920 @2.67GHz
4G RAM

 

Thanks for your help. Your suggestion to unintsall from Programs and Features went a long way. What I was really trying to do was roll back to an earlier driver version (181.22) so that a program I have (Empire:Total War) would work in Windows 7 Apparently in my case at least, the reverse also works and I was able to install the old drivers on top of the new ones. Thanks again