Windows Installer 3.1 - SUCCESS STORY!!!!!

Hey Folks

You don’t need me to tell you that there are loads of people reporting
problems with the installation of Windows Installer 3.1 on these pages – and
loads of words of wisdom about how to fix the problem. Well, my Windows
Update History shows 59 failed attempts at loading it and I have been eagerly
scanning these pages for help and assistance. Though many of these comments
considerably added to my understanding as to how Windows does (and doesn’t)
work, none of them actually solved my problem. I did however get pointed
towards a hint that there could be something wrong with my registry. So,
being a man of considerable resolve and patience, I downloaded one of the
many ‘Registry Cleaners’ – just do a Google search on ‘registry cleaner’ and
you get about 10 pages of options. I chose to try Registry Mechanic 5.0,
freeware edition. That told me I had over 100 problems with my registry so
in desperation I pressed ‘repair’. It repaired some of the identified
problems, but told me that I needed to purchase the full version to get rid
of the rest. Feeling incredibly mean, I downloaded three more freeware
versions, and got told about varying numbers of problems ranging from just
over 100 to an alarming 434. They all work following the same psychology –
tell you the world is about to end if you don’t fix these problems and invite
you to ‘repair’, then they tell you that the freeware version will only solve
perhaps 15 of your problems and in order to get rid of the other 419 you
urgently need to buy the full version. I kind of discovered by accident
though that with a bit of patience you could beat the system. If you keep
pressing ‘repair’ some of them obligingly repair the next 15 (or however
many) left over, so 30 minutes and a very sore finger later you can have
eliminated all of them. The trouble is they all report a slightly different
set of problems, so I tried four different products in total and I got my
machine as clean as possible without actually spending any money.

For the record, the four products I tried were: Registry mechanic 5.0,
CleanmyPC, Registry Tuneup, Windows Optimiser

Guess what? Automatic updates burst into life at the appointed time, found
Installer 3.1, which insisted I couldn’t live without (and probably can’t
actually), and so for the 60th time it attempted to install it. Guess what?
The top line in my update history log now shows Installer 3.1 with a
charmingly delightful little green tick next to it…

They are probably right in that I do need to spend money on a full version
registry cleaner, so my next project is to decide which of these products to
sign up for. By the way, I have been running the Microsoft product RegClean
for ages, and clearly it doesn’t find everything, and the other thing I don’t
like about it is that it runs’ blind’ so you don’t get any sort of listing of
what problems it has found and fixed, it doesn’t even give a count of
problems and fixes.

So there you are – clean up your registry and you too could have a little
green tick.

GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: For goodness sake, before mucking about with
your registry take a copy of it so that you can back-track if something
disastrous happens. I trusted my luck with Microsoft’s own Backup, but
fortunately I didn’t need to find out whether the ‘restore’ bit worked.

--
Not quite an amateur

POSTCRIPT: No wonder Microsoft's RegClean doesn't appear to do anything -
apparently it is meant fro Windows 95/98, not for XP
--
Not quite an amateur


"Thomas" wrote:

> Hey Folks
>
> You don’t need me to tell you that there are loads of people reporting
> problems with the installation of Windows Installer 3.1 on these pages – and
> loads of words of wisdom about how to fix the problem. Well, my Windows
> Update History shows 59 failed attempts at loading it and I have been eagerly
> scanning these pages for help and assistance. Though many of these comments
> considerably added to my understanding as to how Windows does (and doesn’t)
> work, none of them actually solved my problem. I did however get pointed
> towards a hint that there could be something wrong with my registry. So,
> being a man of considerable resolve and patience, I downloaded one of the
> many ‘Registry Cleaners’ – just do a Google search on ‘registry cleaner’ and
> you get about 10 pages of options. I chose to try Registry Mechanic 5.0,
> freeware edition. That told me I had over 100 problems with my registry so
> in desperation I pressed ‘repair’. It repaired some of the identified
> problems, but told me that I needed to purchase the full version to get rid
> of the rest. Feeling incredibly mean, I downloaded three more freeware
> versions, and got told about varying numbers of problems ranging from just
> over 100 to an alarming 434. They all work following the same psychology –
> tell you the world is about to end if you don’t fix these problems and invite
> you to ‘repair’, then they tell you that the freeware version will only solve
> perhaps 15 of your problems and in order to get rid of the other 419 you
> urgently need to buy the full version. I kind of discovered by accident
> though that with a bit of patience you could beat the system. If you keep
> pressing ‘repair’ some of them obligingly repair the next 15 (or however
> many) left over, so 30 minutes and a very sore finger later you can have
> eliminated all of them. The trouble is they all report a slightly different
> set of problems, so I tried four different products in total and I got my
> machine as clean as possible without actually spending any money.
>
> For the record, the four products I tried were: Registry mechanic 5.0,
> CleanmyPC, Registry Tuneup, Windows Optimiser
>
> Guess what? Automatic updates burst into life at the appointed time, found
> Installer 3.1, which insisted I couldn’t live without (and probably can’t
> actually), and so for the 60th time it attempted to install it. Guess what?
> The top line in my update history log now shows Installer 3.1 with a
> charmingly delightful little green tick next to it…
>
> They are probably right in that I do need to spend money on a full version
> registry cleaner, so my next project is to decide which of these products to
> sign up for. By the way, I have been running the Microsoft product RegClean
> for ages, and clearly it doesn’t find everything, and the other thing I don’t
> like about it is that it runs’ blind’ so you don’t get any sort of listing of
> what problems it has found and fixed, it doesn’t even give a count of
> problems and fixes.
>
> So there you are – clean up your registry and you too could have a little
> green tick.
>
> GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: For goodness sake, before mucking about with
> your registry take a copy of it so that you can back-track if something
> disastrous happens. I trusted my luck with Microsoft’s own Backup, but
> fortunately I didn’t need to find out whether the ‘restore’ bit worked.
>
> --
> Not quite an amateur

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