How to use Carelink USB with Windows 7

Alright all you diabetics out there, after a little bit of research and fiddling around there is now a way to get Carelink to work with Windows 7 (and Vista). Carelink allows diabetics who use certain types of pumps (e.g. Paradigm pump) and glucose sensing devices (e.g. MiniLink and UltraLink) to transfer data to the internet for viewing on their computer. The gist of this work around is that Carelink uses older software that requires you to disable/uninstall the newer software (Java) that comes default with Windows 7 so that you can install an older version. Afterward, you can reinstate the newer software for normal use. And the disclaimer... please use this at your own risk as you are responsible for any changes you make to your computer. This is no guarantee that Carelink will work. Here are the steps (with pictures!):

1. Uninstall Java, as the Carelink website requires an older version. You can do this through Control Panel. This may be listed as "Java" or "J2SE" (see picture below). You may also have more than one version installed. If this is the case, uninstall both.
2. Open Internet Explorer in Administrator mode. This is usually done by holding Shift and right-clicking on the Internet Explorer icon. Select Run as Administrator. You may need an administrator password to proceed.
3. Access the Carelink website. You will receive an error regarding unsupported software. Ignore this and click Continue to proceed.
4. Sign in or register to Carelink.
5. Click on the Upload Tab.
6. Proceed through the device setup wizard.
7. Windows may indicate a driver installation failure in the background. Do not use the Windows hardware troubleshooter.
8. After a few seconds the wizard should allow you to proceed. If it fails to detect the device, unplug the device and then plug it back into a different port. Click Retry.
9. Proceed with data upload.
10. After completing the above steps, future uploads are possible without running Internet Explorer in Administrative mode. You may also install the latest version of Java while leaving the older version for Carelink to utilize.