windows installer preparing to install problem

hi everyone im not to sharp with pc and i have a problem i get a message and box popping up saying windows installer preparing to install does not say what its installing and is so causing me problems as its slowing every thing i do read emails and surf internet can anyone help me to stop this from keeping popping up cheers paul

Try this utility from Microsoft:

Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

tried that but got about 5 internal error 2908 here one of them 121634B3-2F4A11D3ADA3-00C04F52DD52 ???????????? so what can i do now please ???

hi when i start my laptop up its gets to main screen with all icons on and a box with big red X says OFFICE this application must be installed to run please run setup from the location where you orignally installed the application ??? and i also have windows installer trying to install all the time it does not say what its trying to install so not sure if they are related ? i have a trail copy that came installed on laptop of office 2003 and also a copy of office 2000 on laptop ive tried uninstalling 2003 with no joy help cheers paul

When did you get these errors? What were you doing?

You can also check start Run... msconfig | Startup

Here you can uncheck any installer that is scheduled to run.

i think my lad tried to uninstall office 2003 that can preinstalled on my laptop it expired and we have office 2000 loaded up i think if i could delete the office 2003 this might solve it ive tried to restore at different point wont let me and been in add/ remove programs and i try and delete office 2003 and it wont let me says a long the lines of "this pack package could not be opened Verity that the pack package exists and that you can access it or contact the application vendor to verity that this is a valid windows installer patch package " also if i try and open up word it says microsoft word "this application must be installed to run please run setup from the location where you orginally installed the application" so im sure these are all linked how can i unstall the preinstalled 2003 or just stop it trying to reinstall it self ?????

cheers paul

Did you try the Windows Installer Clean-up Utility?

Did you try msconfig?


Also:

Uninstall Programs Manually

Just because Windows XP has the Add/Remove Programs feature it doesn't mean your application will appear in the list. Furthermore, even if it does appear, it's no guarantee that the uninstall feature will work. When you run across one of these situations the items listed below will help in getting rid of the application. Be aware that these steps may not remove everything associated with the application and can impact other applications on the computer. Have a backup or restore point and use caution.

*

Find the directory for the application and delete all the files in the directory. Delete the directory. e.g. click C: under My Computer then Program Files etc.
*

Open regedit (start/run regedit) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
*

Open regedit and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
*

To remove the application entry from Add/Remove Programs (if present) open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall and find the folder for the application. Delete the folder.
*

Some applications have Services attached to them. If this is the case, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es, locate and delete the service.
*

In Windows Explorer, navigate to the individual user settings and delete program references. Common places to check would be:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs and delete relevant entries.
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete relevant entries.
C:\Documents and Settings\%YourUserID%\Start Menu\Programs and delete relevant entries.
[Do this for each User ID listed]
C:\Documents and Settings\%YourUserID%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete relevant entries.
[Do this for each User ID listed]

If no entries were found in the previous step and the application launches automatically, navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
and delete the entry.