Virus? "Windows Installer" pop up whenever program started

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chuck Evams
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Chuck Evams

I have encountered numerous pop-up and Ad-Ware problems
and feel my PC is seriously infected. I have been able to
resolve, or mitigate most, but one problem persists and
is extremely iritating. It happens frequently, regardless
of what I am doing on the PC, but I can recreate it
without fail by opening any software program. Whenever I
do, I get a pop-up saying "Windows Installer" and
requesting I insert the Windows XP CD to complete the
install. I believe it is trying to install the "port
reporter" which will allow someone to record most
anything I do on my PC. I have tried everything to
resolve this problem, but have been unable to do so. Any
help would be gratly appreciated.

-Chuck
 
Chuck said:
I have encountered numerous pop-up and Ad-Ware problems
and feel my PC is seriously infected. I have been able to
resolve, or mitigate most, but one problem persists and
is extremely iritating. It happens frequently, regardless
of what I am doing on the PC, but I can recreate it
without fail by opening any software program. Whenever I
do, I get a pop-up saying "Windows Installer" and
requesting I insert the Windows XP CD to complete the
install. I believe it is trying to install the "port
reporter" which will allow someone to record most
anything I do on my PC. I have tried everything to
resolve this problem, but have been unable to do so. Any
help would be gratly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Hi

Most likely it is Windows Installer doing an on-demand installation...

See "Every time I launch my application, Windows Installer performs an
installation. How can I determine the cause of the on-demand installation?"
in the FAQ at

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/community/centers/management/msi_faq.mspx

To access the Application Log in the Event viewer,
run the following command from Start/Run:

eventvwr.msc


If you are running Windows XP (or have access to a Windows XP computer,
you can copy MSIZAP.EXE over to your Win2k computer):

If a product code is listed there and this product is not really installed,
MSIZAP.EXE is maybe able to fix this issue, it is included as a utility in
the support tools installation package (on your WinXP CD) with some
additional
documentation included in suptools.chm (installed by suptools.msi).

It will remove all Windows Installer entries for a product key that you feed
it with.

Note that if MSIZAP.EXE is used incorrectly it can affect other applications
on the machine.

Based on the documentation in
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/msi/setup/msizap_exe.asp

this is what you should run:

msizap T {product code}

an example:
msizap T {FFB37294-1155-17D3-A809-0250BAAFB1AB}


Alternatively, for a more user friendly interface to MSIZAP.EXE ,
take a look at this article:

Description of the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301
 
Thank you Torgeir!

The msizap.exe worked like a champ.

One note, I downloaded the "Windows Installer CleanUp
Utility", you suggested, but was not able to utilize it
as products causing the problem ("HandWritingFiles"
and "CiceroFiles") did not finish installing. This is
because every time the windows installer popped up, I
would cancel it. Therefore, they did not show up in the
list of products that could be "cleaned up" by the
utility. That is my theory anyway.

When I ran the msizap from a command line, it got rid of
everything and the problem has been resolved.

Thanks again!

Regards,
-Chuck
 
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