Hardware Drivers :: Windows 8 Not Managing Well Enabling / Disabling Network Adapters

I have a Gateway NV52L15U amd a8-based 15" laptop with win 8.it works pretty well except for a few things that I suspect are related, and I suspect all three are due to how 8 is managing the drivers of the devices

- Network performance, in terms of starting up, latching the WIFI AP successfully, and getting online, is unreliable. oddly, it seems that it does not like disabling the Ethernet [CAT5] device, leaving the WIFI enabled. If I leave both enabled, wifi performance seems more stable [gaining and holding the connection]

- When I disable the CAT5 connection using the windows 8 adapter settings pane, the utility will hang, but not consistently. sometimes it hangs until it is forced to stop via taskmanager or restart, but not always. sometimes it merely takes a VERY long time - showing the hated hourglass while it takes as long as 7-8 minutes.

- Shutdowns and/or restarts can take an extremely long time. However, it seems again that if both network adapters are enabled [builtin wifi and builtin Ethernet] the reboot or shutdown seems to go a bit more normally.

- Sometimes the WIFI will not actually connect, as evidenced by IE and/or Chrome being unable to access the network. if I check windows using the taskbar widget, it will show the system "Connected to .." the AP and having "Internet Access". That little utility is mis-reporting. When I DISABLE the WIFI adapter via control panel util, the little taskbar widget may, or may not, still show the WIFI Device as "Connected".... I assume that the adjustment of that feedback mechanism is caught waiting for something, so slow to respond to the disabling of the device

Yes, I have uninstalled via windows both devices AND their drivers, and reinstalled each using fresh, checked driver files from Gateway/Acer. all the issues were there before and after.