Install that Won't Die
 

I'm having a problem and would love to find a solution if anyone has any ideas. At some point, a ROXIO install was started on my desktop and failed, I think it was included software on an extra drive I purchased or something like that. Since then, the install request/program is buried somewhere and everytime I boot the desktop it tries to run the install again and again ... I've canceled it (a pain in and of itself) but it just restarts itself a few minutes later :mad: or I let it run, and it fails. Either way, it just won't go away.

I've managed to deal with it by ignoring it for the most part until now but now I need to install other software on the desktop, however because there is an install "in progress", the installation for the new software is being stopped immediately.

Any ideas on how to just kill this Roxio install completely? Where is the install instruction even stored at this point?

Thanks for any guidance you can offer.

This actually saves me time/frustration in the long run:

I religiously keep all my "stuff" in "My Docs". I never go more than 6 months without completely reformatting my Hard Drive (after saving My Docs and my outlook pst file to a safe location of course). I keep all my install discs and keys in a single location to make this easier. Its a bit of a hassle, sure, but I find I save time in the long run not fiddling almost constantly with registry issues, corrupt file issues, disk fragmenting, persistant installs, etc ...

I did try the technique of imaging, but found it to be more hassle than its worth. I format and install from scratch.

I seriously doubt that this saves you time. In fact I would imagine you waste an incredible amount of time doing this every 6 months.

To the OP, you need a registry cleaning utility and simply get rid of anything related to ROXIO and you should be good to go.

I have my files corraled and backed up, but those install disks ... yeah, they are MIA so a full rebooting isn't really an option for me right now :(

Can you give me an example of a program name I'm looking at or is this part of a Norton utility? Thanks!!

Try using http://www.ccleaner.com/ first (it's free) and see if that finds the obnoxious ROXIO entry that is causing problems.

Thanks - I'll reconnect it to the internet and give it a shot.

you can get lucky sometimes with registry cleaners. you can also be not so lucky and just waste a bunch of time. you can also get seriously unlucky with registry cleaners and make problems worse.

nothing is better than a complete reformat for fixing problems ... but you have to have a good backup discipline.

absolutely not. Maybe an hour or two actual work. Most of the "time" is letting it sit and install/format while I work on another box. It really isnt that bad once you get used to it, and I install some pretty bloated stuff (VS net for example) I suppose if you only had one machine it might be an issue.

How long has it been since youve actually done this?

Does it show up under Control Panel-add or remove files list?

That's a lot for some people.

Not all of us have other "boxes" to work on. I don't work in IT. I don't have 30 computers to choose from. I have a laptop, that's it.

I used to be an IT geek and into all this stuff. But that was years ago. Then I grew up. :)

if your install discs are MIA and reformatting isnt an option, Id probably specifically look for an unistaller program that will scan the registry. check out the reviews online and try to get an idea of which one is safer (ie wont leave you with worse problems). Make sure it has some sort of rollback feature to get you back to where you started if it gets worse.

Try the windows installer clean-up utility and report back.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

Yes, the title of that article is a bit misleading. Don't worry about the title, read the content.

I had a similar problem, not with roxio, but with a failed install that would never give up, and I think I used the MS utility to get rid of the problem.

If you search for something like "roxio failed install" you will get several results that use the MS windows installer clean-up utility to fix the problem.

http://www.techtalkz.com/windows-hel...installer.html

-David

As long as it shows up in add/remove programs, use this:

http://www.portablefreeware.com/inde...=revo&m=Search

Select option 4

Then totally destroy your Roxio disks ... Absolute bloat ware and resource hog.

Here's what I would do
 

Click on Start than Run, type in msconfig. Click on the startup tab and see if the roxio install is there, if it is unclick the box. I would also check the services tab, click the box to stop showing Microsoft services than look for Roxio and if there remove the check from this box also. Then restart the system, hope this helps.

If you are looking for good utilities go to www.glarysoft.com and download the utilities program it is free and works great, including a registry repair process that I would also run.