I’ve been less than pleased with Vista since I got this computer. I don’t really appreciate the user restrictions, apparently designed to keep me from getting anything done.

After much fiddling, I got my embroidery machine and computer talking again. For anyone else with this issue, this is what I did.
1) Plugged in the USB cable from my sewing machine to the computer.
2) Installed the 3D File Assistant
3) Installed all the updates from http://www.pfaffusa.com/655.html
4) Changed the 3D File Assistant, Config and Smart Update to run in XP compatibility mode. To do this, right click on the file in Windows Explorer, choose properties, go to the compatibility tab, and then click XP compatibility mode. While you’re in there, check the box at the bottom under “Privilege Level” to run the program as an administrator.
After I’d done all that, it looked like my computer was going to talk to my embroidery machine, but all it did was lock the embroidery machine in “File Transfer” mode and the 3D FA program got stuck in the thinking mode. I had to turn the embroidery machine off and kill the app via the task manager.
5) I went back to the 3D FA in Windows Explorer, right clicked again to get to properties, and in the compatibility tab, clicked on the “Show Settings for all users”. Once there, I again clicked on XP compatibility mode and checked the box at the bottom under “Privilege Level” to run the program as an administrator.
6) Finally, in the 3D FA properties again, I clicked the Security tab and changed the settings to Full Control for Authenticated Users and Users, leaving the Everyone, Administrators, and SYSTEM settings untouched.
7) Reboot computer.

I’m not actually sure about the necessity of steps 5 and 7, but am including them because this is the process that finally got my machine talking.