Installer running

[katem]

After much searching I cannot find an answer to my question so hoping that someone on here might know.

I recently upgraded a machine from XP home to XP Pro. Now when the users log in, a program called Vocab+ Iconic (English) tries to install. Being as though the original program was installed using a specialist outside supplier who didn't leave a disk, I can't simply pop in the disk it's asking for.

I dont understand why it has suddenly started to try and reinstall this program since I upgraded and cant stop it!

I've also noticed that sometimes trying to open a totally unrelated program triggers the installation sequence, so you have to keep cancelling this until it goes away.

Any ideas? I've deleted all temporary files ....

Thanks,
Kate

[witch]

It must be somewhere on your machine. Do a search and get rid of any references to it. Edit the registry. Check in start up to see if it is set to install when the machine boots

Otherwise you could contact the supplier of said program and ask how to get rid of it!!

[katem]

Thanks Witch, yes indeed the program is on there but they still need to use it so deleting it isn't an option..

[SYNACK]

It sounds like it is a Windows installer based application (MSI). When the computer was upgraded it may have replaced some of the files that the software used with different versions.

MSI packages are capable of self repair but can't complete this if they don't have access to the installation source. It sounds like it is also tied to some file type associations. When the computer tries to open up certain types of file or a folder it has to check what application is assosiated to which document type, if the application is in a failed state when these are checked it will launch the installer and try to fix the application again.

There are a few options available that may help on this page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555175/en-us page. I would suggest method three and method eleven to start with.

[SYNACK]

Oops, didn't read that you still needed to use it, the easiest option in this case is to disable the windows installer service. This is not ideal as it will stop other applications from installing but it should stop the prompts.

The better but more drawn out option is to enable logging (method six from above) and see if you can find out which files are missing that keep triggering the install. It may be easier to find a few stray dlls than the whole program.

Addition: It looks like the windows installer clean up program only removes the windows installer configuration, not the software itself so you may be able to use this and keep the application running after all. With the prerequisite backup of course.

[katem]

Thanks for the replies Synack, I'll be looking into it this morning and will post back my findings!

[witch]

I think the best option is to maybe find out how to get it put back on (after all, you have paid for the licence etc) and then take the s*d off and start again!