wmcole,
Yes, it was indeed Xerox Smart Start. As you say, it was trying to install Print and Scan Experience. The Xerox guy said I didn't need the latter as it would have mainly added scanner controls.
The tech support phone call took forever partly because whenever he told me to uninstall printers, stop the spool service etc. Windows would immediately see my printer as a new device and install the drivers/app that then wanted to download the Print/Scan Experience. He had me manually install PS3 (I think) drivers. This briefly resulted in two printers appearing in devices. He told me not to uninstall the 'wrong one' as this would also remove PS3. However, the phantom printer has now vanished itself from devices - though I still do see it as a pull down option when I sent printer preferences etc. My printer is actually working like a charm - best it ever has because I was having margin problems etc. with the original drivers I had before using Smart Start. We just have this repeated update problem to solve.
I have not seen the firmware upgrade you mention requiring a password, and hope I don't.
One thing I would add, is that while this printer is probably the best quality printer I've ever owned, using it has been a hassle: settings remembered in one app that are lost in another, or defaults not quite working. I feel I have to check everything, everywhere before sending a print job. Also I connect by USB, so see a network error on the printer all the time. I downloaded a pdf manual for the printer, it's 114 pages long but doesn't tell you what most of the settings do. The manual says click on "?" which, when you do, sends you to a Xerox web page with all the settings listed. It's like Xerox went out of their way to turn what should be a simple device into an obstacle course.
But, as I say, it's mostly working now (refused to print one page yesterday until I powered on and off) but we still have the Windows Update issue which I hope Xerox will, as they said, get to the bottom of.
