I have an Acer 5720G laptop with an integrated Crystal Eye webcam whose problem is that it will not start at all (i.e. Windows Vista closes the driver "from scratch", or it will spontaneously freeze if started. I have tried to correct the problem by updating the driver (from the Acer drivers update page). But nothing seems to help. What can I do? Device Manager shows that the webcam is working properly and that the drivers are allegedly the best available. I wonder if the laptop hardware is nearing the end of its life cycle, the laptop is about 3 years old.

The Acer Customer Support recommended reinstalling the windows. I have run it for over 3 years now, so they think it is high time to reinstall the system or update Vista to Win7.
Thanks for your suggestion.