Acronis-linked USB Problem After Windows 7 Updates Released

I am posting this to report two slightly different problems I had after receiving updates for Windows 7 Professional (x64) (SP1), both of which involved my Acronis True Image Home 2012 software.

My computer is as follows:

HP EliteBook 8460p, running Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit, Service Pack 1
Intel ® Core ® i7-2640M (2.80 GHz, 4 MB L3 cache) processor
Mobile Intel® QM67 Express chipset

On Monday, 23 July 2012, I purchased two books at Amazon.com for my Kindle, selected the option to "transfer via USB," attached my Kindle to the computer, and transferred the books to it without any problem.

On Wednesday, 25 July 2012, I attached my Kindle to my computer and as soon as the Kindle powered on, it caused my computer to got through a "Blue Screen" crash. I checked to make sure that my Windows software was up-to-date and it was, so I tried again to connect my Kindle, and the same thing happened.

At that time I was able to connect my Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex external hard drive (NTFS system) and Lexar USB flash drive (FAT32 system) without any problems. Only the Kindle (also a FAT32 system) caused the problem.

The USB ports involved are USB 3.0.

The only changes made to my computer between 07/23 and 07/25 were the installation of several updates from Microsoft:

Windows Defender Update KB915597 (definition 1.131.548.0) on 07/24/2012
Hotfix for Windows (KB2397190) on 07/25/2012
Hotfix for Windows (KB2482122) on 07/25/2012
Hotfix for Windows (KB2505454) on 07/25/2012
Hotfix for Windows (KB2551127) on 07/25/2012
Hotfix for Windows (KB2615592) on 07/25/2012
Hotfix for Windows (KB2621419) on 07/25/2012

I got help on the Microsoft Answers Forum website, and the person helping me was able to trace the likely source of the problem to my Acronis drivers (snapman.sys).

The software I was using at the time was Acronis True Image Home 2012, Build 5060.

I already had all of the "critical" Microsoft updates installed, so I installed all of the optional updates except for the updates for the .NET Framework. I also installed all of the updates from Hewlett-Packard, which included several drivers, a BIOS update, and other things.

Finally, I updated my Acronis to Build 7133.

After doing all of these updates I plugged in my Kindle again, and Windows was not able to detect it. I could see by the light on the Kindle that power was going to it, but it did not trigger the "USB drive" detected icon in the task tray, nor did it appear under "Computer" (formerly "My Computer").

I tried attaching the Seagate external hard drive, and I got the same result: power was going to the hard drive, but Windows did not detect it. (I did not try attaching the Lexar USB drive because I assumed I would get the same result with it.)

Also, I have WinPatrol from BillP Studios, and it reported that the "Monitor for Acronis True Image Backup Archive Explorer" (TimounterMonitor.exe) wanted to install itself as a new Auto Startup Program. It didn't matter whether I clicked Yes, allow it, or No, do not allow it - I got this request from WinPatrol every 3 minutes.

At that point I went to Acronis' website, downloaded the application for cleanly uninstalling Acronis True Image Home 2012, ran it, and that cured the problem with my Kindle and with my Seagate external hard drive.

Of course this also means that I don't have and can't use the Acronis software (and my backup files are on the Seagate external hard drive).

I do not have a Windows dump file for the problem I had with ATIH 2012 Build 7133 because Windows didn't create one, but I do have a Windows minidump file for the problem I had with ATIH 2012 Build 5060. I planned to attach it to this post, but the file extension is *.dmp, and the dialog box for uploading attachments does not list that as an acceptable file type.

Do I need to contact Customer Service directly, or will someone here pass this along? I did see two threads from September 2009 reporting BSODs linked to USB devices (here: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/3834, and here: http://forum.acronis.com/forum/4189).