virus like activity but not virus

Dear Dazco,

I found your thread titled "virus like activity but not virus." You wrote that you solved it yourself. Can you tell me how you solved it?

I'm having multiple problems.

Windows 2007 erradic behavior -- windows from other unopened programs popping up ie. Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 opened to the page where you set preferences for how spam is dealt with when I tried to open Outlook 2007.


Windows Installer 5:

Windows installer starting as soon as I try to open an Office 2007 program and sometimes in non-microsoft programs.

Sometimes, once it starts, it will NOT shut down until I reboot.

In Outlook 2007 it will run for 5-10 minutes and then bring up the program in Safe Mode only. I'm then unable to receive or send emails.

It started opening in Word & Excel when I clicked on clipart which it said wasn't installed and would I like to install. When I hit yes, it hung and wouldn't close.

It now randomly starts if I open Excel or Word and randomly on some other programs.

I'm unable to uninstall Office 2007 through Control Panel nor can I run a repair from from original Office 2007 installation CD.

I've spent three days trying innumerable suggested fixes from the internet for Installer 5.0, Windows 7, Office 2007, and Outlook 2007 to no avail.

Both Malwarebytes and Kaspersky say there are no viruses.

I ran sfc/scannow and got nothing.

My system:
Toshiba Satellite A505-s6005
Intel Core i3
4GB RAM
O/S Windows 7 Home Premium x64 v.6.1.7600
HD: Toshiba MK5055GSX

Any help or direction would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Thanks for such a fast reply!

I've done a lot of Office installations over the years. When I installed Office 2007, I marked for all components of the programs Word, Excel, and Outlook to run from my computer. I read somewhere that the problem with clipart causing the windows installer is because, as of Office 2007, Microsoft no longer provides the clipart folder that they used to. Microsoft used to contract with outside vendors for the clipart but they quit doing that. Now, you download what you want from either Microsoft's website or any independent provider. That just clicking on Clipart would start the Installer because of that doesn't seem logical to me, but I'll look further into that later if I have to.

I've been using Kaspersky Internet Security for several years now and, as soon as I bought this version, I configured all settings before I started using it. I double checked to be sure and email notifications are still shut off. The only notifications I ever ask for are system or event notifications...Just the facts, ma'am.

I realized something else, too. I can't open a file from Windows 7 Explorer. I have to have the program it was created in running and then I can open the file from within that program without a problem. Should I start a new thread with this one?

Before I do anything else, I'm going to try your link. I'll post back the results.

Thank you again!

Hi Dazco,

It looks like I've finally gotten my problem with Windows Installer fixed. What a mass of wasted time!

WINDOWS INSTALLER 5.0 for Windows 7 problems were: pops up whenever it feels like it -- when I try to save a word document; when I open certain programs; or for no apparent reason at all. Then it hangs and won’t shut down when I click “Cancel”. Sometimes, I got error message 1601: “The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed.” These are some of the things I tried:
1. Ran System Integrity Checker. Start > cmd > Right click on cmd and Run as administrator. Then type SFC /SCANNOW.
2. Unregistered and Re-registered msiexec.exe several times thru “Start” “Run”.
3. I restored to a previous Restore Point. (Sidebar: System would not let me restore to any Restore Points before the most recent one -- which meant that all the other problems with Office 2007 Programs remained.)
4. tried to find a way to uninstall and re-install Windows Installer 5.0 only to discover that it’s an integral part of Windows 7 and not available for download. (What genius decided that was a good idea?) Further, Windows 7 cannot run an older version of Windows Installer.
5. I checked to verify that “Installer Service” is set to manual. It was.
6. I emptied temp files.
7. WINDOWS INSTALLER CLEANUP TOOL is no longer available as it was interfering with some other programs.
8. Uninstalled Windows Updates that, as near as I could tell, were installed after the problem started.

Bottom Line:
I believe that all this nightmare was caused by a buggy Windows update. After I restored to a previous point and/or uninstalled a half a dozen updates, these are the things I did, in some order or another:
1. BACKED-UP the registry.
2. BACKED-UP all data.
3. MSIEXEC.EXE – unregistered and re-registered.
4. REGISTRY changes: Important! This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Step 1: FIND the MSIEXEC.EXE file(s):
On 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system, 32-bit binaries are located in %systemroot%\SysWow64 folder. The 64-bit binaries are located in the %systemroot%\System32 folder. You must make the changes to BOTH files.
To find out where your msiexec.exe file(s) are, click “Start” type “Run” hit enter, type in “%windir%\system32” without the quotes. Click Ok and make a note of where the file is located. If you’re running a 64-bit machine, you need to do the same thing for the other file. This time, type in “%windir%\Syswow64” without the quotes. Click Ok and make a note of where the file is located.

Step 2. CHANGE the REGISTRY: If the thought of doing this has you quaking in your boots, you’re ready to begin.
LOCATION: Click “Start” type “regedit” without the quotes and hit enter, if Microsoft asks for permission, click “yes”. In succession, click on the arrow to the left of: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msiserver. Left click on “msiserver”. In the right pane, right click “ImagePath” and click “Modify.” In the “ValueData” box, type in the correct location of the msiexec.exe file follow by a space and /V. For example, mine read “%systemroot%\system32\msiexec.exe /V”. I changed it to “C:\WINDOWS\System32\msiexec.exe /V”. Yours may be C:\Windows\system32\Msiexec.exe, in which case, you would type C:\WINDOWS\System32\msiexec.exe /V” without the quotes. Click “File” and then “Exit” to close the registry editor. You can also click the red X in the upper right-hand corner.
RE-REGISTER: Click “Start” then click the drop-down arrow next to the “Shut Down” box and click “Restart”. When the o/s begins to reboot, repeatedly press the F8 key until the screen shows the “Windows Advanced Option” menu. Use the arrow keys to select the Safe Mode option, and then press ENTER.) If you use a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the appropriate operating system from the list that is displayed, and then press ENTER.) Log on to the computer. Click “Start”, type “Run”, hit enter and type “msiexec /regserver” in the open text box, and then click OK.
For 64-bit operating systems, you also have to reregister the 64-bit MSI installer. To do this, Click “Start”, type “Run”, hit enter and type “%windir%\Syswow64\Msiexec /regserver” in the open text box, and then click OK.
Click “Start” then click the drop-down arrow next to the “Shut Down” box and click “Restart”.

Step 3: Cross your fingers, throw salt over your left shoulder, don’t walk under ladders and… hope that it worked!

Thanks to Savan – Microsoft Support for this information. More at these links.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/windows-installer/450ac417-29a1-4e6c-aebc-d5691c507dbd

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2438651#reso1 About ½ way down the page, under Windows Installer issues, click onClick here to view or hide detailed information for more options on repairing Windows Installer.

I am working on the Office 2007 problems now and will let you know what comes of it.

marvmad

PS: Would it be useful for me to post the above as a sollution in case it would work for anyone else?