HELP!!! Many problems since about 5 days ago...I'm new at this

I have an XP, Pavillion. DSL connection. I am not a techie!!! I can follow
simple directions, if you don't assume that I know something. Here goes:

I wanted to uninstall SpyBot, after many problems, I finally updated it to
the 1.4, runs ok now.
After a couple of the Windows Update, the patches either weren't there or I
could not find the path. Update would tell me that it could not install, it
would download it ok, but not be able to install.
I have an Office cd which I installed a couple of months of ago. Word and
Excel was okay on it, till these problems started happening. Office updates,
since about 5 days are not installing also.
Most annoying problem is Windows Installer tries to install a program, but
I'm not installing anything!? I'm confused.
I've been told it's a registry problem.
Now I can't even uninstall Office. It asked me, as I was troubleshooting to
put in the 25 number code, and it says it doesn't recognize it as belonging
to me. I know that, it was a friends CD to help me update Office 97.
I know this is alot, this is also how confused and frustrated I am.
Okay, if I get through this, what's the best Free Anti-Virus out there, or
the least expensive. Money or I should say, lack of it, is a problem right
now! Thank you all for treating me with kid gloves. Merry Christmas to all!

i guess you have confused yourself as you are trying to relate quite a few
things together here and possibly even mixing it up therefore in the end
making it all a big mess. take it all step by step.

first thing if your automatic windows updates dont seem to install turn off
automatic updates. to do this right click on my computer and on the tab that
says automatic updates you will find an option that is turn off automatic
updates. click on that and then restart your computer.

next, go to microsofts updates website and manually download each of them.
only install the critical updates and make a note of all the ones that you
download and install. the thing to make a note of here would be the Qxxxxxxxx
and KBxxxxxxx where xxx would be a set of numbers related to a particular
update.

let me know if this works
yogi

"LMonte" wrote:

I have an XP, Pavillion. DSL connection. I am not a techie!!! I can follow
simple directions, if you don't assume that I know something. Here goes:

I wanted to uninstall SpyBot, after many problems, I finally updated it to
the 1.4, runs ok now.
After a couple of the Windows Update, the patches either weren't there or I
could not find the path. Update would tell me that it could not install, it
would download it ok, but not be able to install.
I have an Office cd which I installed a couple of months of ago. Word and
Excel was okay on it, till these problems started happening. Office updates,
since about 5 days are not installing also.
Most annoying problem is Windows Installer tries to install a program, but
I'm not installing anything!? I'm confused.
I've been told it's a registry problem.
Now I can't even uninstall Office. It asked me, as I was troubleshooting to
put in the 25 number code, and it says it doesn't recognize it as belonging
to me. I know that, it was a friends CD to help me update Office 97.
I know this is alot, this is also how confused and frustrated I am.
Okay, if I get through this, what's the best Free Anti-Virus out there, or
the least expensive. Money or I should say, lack of it, is a problem right
now! Thank you all for treating me with kid gloves. Merry Christmas to all!

LMonte,
SpyBot S&D is not an anti-virus program. It is an anti-spyware program.
It's regarded as being good at what it does. Perhaps it has a disabling
feature that will allow you to temporarily turn it off when you are
attempting to install a program.

Are you using an anti-virus program? It could be interfering with
installations, if you do not temporarily turn it off when making
installations.

You asked about a good, free anti-virus program. AVG is highly regarded by
many. It is available for download he
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2

Back to Anti-Spyware programs. Another good, free one is Ad-Aware SE
Personal. It's available for download he
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Please be sure to keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs updated,
whatever programs you use.

"It asked me, as I was troubleshooting to
put in the 25 number code, and it says it doesn't recognize it as belonging
to me. I know that, it was a friends CD to help me update Office 97."
This was not a legal action on your's and your friends's part. Legally, you
are required to purchase a license, which is expensive.
Office 97 is still a good office product. Stay with it, or you could
replace it with Open Office. Open Office is a free download he
http://www.openoffice.org/

I'm not going to venture into the problem of installing updates or
uninstalling MS Office, except to again say that you might have encountered
the problem of not having closed all programs before attempting to make the
installations. I hope someone more knowledgeable about troubleshooting
installation problems will chime in and help you.

I hope I have been of some help to you. Merry Christmas! and a Happy New
Year! to you and yours.

"LMonte" wrote:

I have an XP, Pavillion. DSL connection. I am not a techie!!! I can follow
simple directions, if you don't assume that I know something. Here goes:

I wanted to uninstall SpyBot, after many problems, I finally updated it to
the 1.4, runs ok now.
After a couple of the Windows Update, the patches either weren't there or I
could not find the path. Update would tell me that it could not install, it
would download it ok, but not be able to install.
I have an Office cd which I installed a couple of months of ago. Word and
Excel was okay on it, till these problems started happening. Office updates,
since about 5 days are not installing also.
Most annoying problem is Windows Installer tries to install a program, but
I'm not installing anything!? I'm confused.
I've been told it's a registry problem.
Now I can't even uninstall Office. It asked me, as I was troubleshooting to
put in the 25 number code, and it says it doesn't recognize it as belonging
to me. I know that, it was a friends CD to help me update Office 97.
I know this is alot, this is also how confused and frustrated I am.
Okay, if I get through this, what's the best Free Anti-Virus out there, or
the least expensive. Money or I should say, lack of it, is a problem right
now! Thank you all for treating me with kid gloves. Merry Christmas to all!

On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 09:51:02 -0800, LMonte

After a couple of the Windows Update, the patches either weren't there or I
could not find the path. Update would tell me that it could not install, it
would download it ok, but not be able to install.

Various things can prang updates, and top of the list is malware
activity. You need to formally scan the system for traditional
malware, then use AdAware, Spybot and perhaps MSAS beta to scan for
and manage commercial malware.

I presume you have a resident antivirus and keep it up to date; if
not, do so. I also assume you have XP's firewall on, or a 3rd-party
alternative in place; if not, do so. And finally, I assume you do not
allow access to File and Print Sharing from the Internet.

If your PC management has failed any of the above 3 items, then you
should assume you are infected, get off all networks and block WiFi,
then formally scan for malware etc. as described above.

By "formally scan", I mean without running any of the infected code
base. That means booting something other than the infected HD, and
scanning with updated scanners that are not on the infected HD.

This is such an essential, routine requirement that it should be easy,
but it isn't, because MS provides no suitable maintenance OS (mOS) for
XP (especially XP on NTFS). You can either hire or build the skills
to roll your own mOS, e.g. Bart bootable CDR, or you can do what 99%
of users do, i.e. faff around in Safe Mode and hope your luck holds.

The following are free av:

AntiVir 6: Can run resident, can run from Bart boot, auto-updates
AVG 7: Can run resident, cannot run from Bart boot, auto-updates
Avast: Can run resident, cannot run from Bart boot, auto-updates
BitDefender 8: On-demand, cannot run from Bart boot, auto-updates
Trend SysClean: On-demand, can run from Bart boot, full download
McAfee Stinger: On-demand, can run from Bart boot, full download

By "full download", I mean updating the tool is a matter of
re-downloading the whole thing, rather than getting update data either
as a separate download or from within the program. Such tools are
more practical for interventional rather than ongoing use.Stinger only
looks for a small number of common malware, but does this well. None
of the above can be relied upon for commercial malware (cm).

The following are free anti-cm tools:

AdAware SE 106: Can run from Bart, needs RunScanner to do so
SpyBot 1.4: Can run from Bart, doesn't need RunScanner to do so
MSAS beta: Can't run from Bart, can't install from Safe Mode
Spyware Blaster: Not a scanner, non-resident, confers static immunity

I have an Office cd which I installed a couple of months of ago. Word and
Excel was okay on it, till these problems started happening. Office updates,
since about 5 days are not installing also.

Don't pick a fight with MS Office, if you have no CD. You'll lose.
If worried about unpatched/unpatcheable risks, I'd use Open Office
(free) instead. In any case, I'd not use Outlook for email.

Most annoying problem is Windows Installer tries to install a program, but
I'm not installing anything!? I'm confused.

Windows Installer (i.e. the WMI that installs .MSI packages) is like
that - i.e. buggy. It tends to start chewing on long-forgotten
installation process whenever something kicks the antheap to wake it
up. Clearing all Temp stores may help, in case the restarted
installation process is there.

Okay, if I get through this, what's the best Free Anti-Virus out there

As covered above. I use AVG 7 resident, Bit Defender 8 as on-demand
scanner to back-end AVG, and AntiVir 6 as my prime formal intervention
scanner as plugged into Bart bootable CDR, where it is back-ended by
Trend SysClean, McAfee Stinger and a couple of other CLI scanners.



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