It's going to be a long, long story, so why don't you pull up a chair and get some milk and cookies? :P

Anyways... It all started when I installed this video editing program called "Wax" onto my HP desktop. It turned out I didn't care much for it, so I uninstalled it. Unfortunately, when I uninstalled it, it wiped out some of the files used by other programs. So I used System Restore. When I had finished restoring, however, upon rebooting, Windows Installer popped up, and tried to install Fax. It failed however, because, according to Windows Installer, "fax.msi" could not be found. No matter how many times I canceled the installer, it would pop right back up. Finally, I googled the problem, and the remedy was to download this uninstaller from HP. It got rid of the fax problem, but it also messed up a bunch of other programs. So I System Restored again. My programs are back to normal (I think), but Windows Installer popped up again. Is there a way to get rid of this Windows Installer thingy without messing up all my other programs?

Hi onigiri,
Ouch, ouch, sneeze, cough, splutter. You've got that silly Windows Installer 'thingy' crawling about in your register!

This is a well known problem but can be fixed. But unfortunately it will take a bit of time and patience. It manifests itself in the windows registry area known as the KEY_CLASSES. It is a malware virus and depending uopn how it got there reflects the level of difficulty in getting rid of it, ie - it can take just a few steps or a lot of steps. System restore will not get rid of it and a lot of 'registry cleaners' tend to cause more problems than they cure ( bitter experience ).
Anyway, to the point ( at last she says!!!! ).
Firstly you need to get rid of the 'crap' that will be hiding around in the darkest and most murky areas of your PC. To do this you can get a utility called CCLEANER ( that really does stand for 'CRAP CLEANER' ), from;

http://www.ccleaner.com/

This utility is a tried and tested and trusted one from my friends at;
http://www.astalavista.com

Follow the instructions and install it. Run it and check the cleaner options Under Windows tab. DO NOT CHECK ANY OF THE ADVANCED BOXES. Do the same under the APPLICATIONS tab.
Next, click on ANALIZE. Depending on what 'crap' you've accumulated it may take a few minutes. You'll be suprised at the amount of MB's it finds.
Next, click on RUN CLEANER and let it do its stuff.
After that, click on ISSUES ( on the left nav ) and run the scan. This will aslo take a while and don't be suprised at the amount of results. You will find things like 'missing DLL' etc. Now click on FIX SELECTED ISSUES. Follow the prompts and save a registry backup to your DESKTOP.

Now power down windows and SWITCH OFF all power to the PC. Wait 30 secs and then power up the PC. This allows residual power to memory and chip registers to level off.

The crap cleaner may have got rid of it. If not then it is more serious so you will have to take a bit more time.
Have look in the FORUM at;

http://forum.piriform.com/

This is part of CCLEANER.com help and support. Do a search on 'windows installer' ( search is at the upper right corner ). There is much advice there in the listings. When I looked tonight there was one about 5th post down that looked very interesting but take a look through more of them. The answer is there - I promise.

If you still experience the problem then let me know and I will send you to a very serious site that will get rid of it for sure, along with things you never knew you had! But that will take time as you will be asked to install other ( very small ), utilities such as HijackThis.exe, and be posting log files to an expert at the forum. Lets hope you don't have to but those people will put your PC back to that super duper amazingly fast machine that you originally bought!

Hope this is useful. For a list of rogue processes you can take a look at this site but don't download anything from them!

http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/

There you will find 'winstall.exe'. That's the actual problem!

Incidentally, when you uninstall programs in the future make sure that you manually delete the folders that it created under c:\Program Files as they don't alway do that. Sometimes they share DLL's ( Dynamic Linked Library files ), but delete them causing problems for other programs. They can easily be replaced - but lets see how you get on first.

Let me know.

Good luck onigiri.

Ges.

PS Thank you for the nice comment I received in my user control panel the other day! It's nice to be nice and help others whenever possible and no matter who they are.

Wow, that's really helpful! Thanks so much, Ges!

P.S.: I'm a he, by the way. I know it doesn't seem like it, but... :P

Hi again onigiri,
Oh noooo! not more he says!! ( thought the 'I' in onigiri was an 'L' till' you told me and I looked at your profile - :lol: - sorry - are you really a bowl of rice? - fascinating! A bowl of rice that can type! - just kidding ).

Well just in case I get run down by a bus and die today I thought I'd better post the malware site to you.
If/when you visit be patient. These guys are volunteers like you and they go to great lengths to get you sorted. Whilst you are communicating with them, you can still use your PC. Part of their instructions will involve re-booting in SAFE MODE and installing a few utilities ( which you remove after you are cured ). But you MUST follow instructions to the letter as they will help you flush your PC - bit like having a blood transfusion. But believe me, your PC will run faster than a vegatarian being offered a steak! - just like it did when you bought it. Windows has a nasty habit of tucking away useless log and temp files that get indexed whenever you run certain applications causing your PC to run slower and slower as time goes by.

So ( get on with it Ges!:zzz: I'm a schizophrenic, No I'm not. Yes you are. Hey, what are you 2 talking about....... ), heres the site;

http://forum.malwareremoval.com/

Go to the Malware Removal Topic.
IMPORTANT RULE:
Never use the information from another thread. Each thread/problem is individually sorted so post your problem as it will be treated uniquely by one of the experts. Even if you see a thread with the exact problem - ignore it. No other expert will interfere while you are being dealt with.

Like I say, be patient and when your done you'll be astounded at what crap and adware etc was lurking in your PC. So hold on tight and good luck.

Regards,
Ges ( and the legions that dwell in his mind - MUAhahahahah!!! ):devil: :drool: :pumpkin: :rant: