add hardware /control panel

hi guys please bear with me as i am noobie and not puter literate . control panel / add hardware ,when left or right mouse clicked message box appears it says it can only install one device at the time and i need to wait till it finishes what it is doing b4 i can use it . It is trying to install something before my mouse clicks , how do i find out what it is trying to install and how can i stop it trying to do that, please keep explanation in simple english as i am very new to this. my operating system is windows xp
regards , bruce.

 

If you right click on My Computer, choose properties, then hardware, device manager, are there any yellow flags in there? If yes, associated with what? :wave:wave

 

brandypeppy thanks for reply ,there are no yellow flags showing in device manager

 

Possibly an incomplete Update?

 

hrlow2
thanks for reply have tried all i know (not much ) to access install hardware i need to find out if there is a way to stop it from trying to install whatever it is trying to install . i am grasping at straws, it may be necessary to do a full o/s reinstall ,which i am trying to avoid as i have a very large amount of stuff on there that i will lose

regards bruce

 

If, with no programs, you open your task manager, press crtl-alt-delete together, do you see anything under the applications tab? What is your CPU usage, I believe under performance tab. Under processes, what is running? Anything look like an installer?

If you boot into safe mode, do you still get this behavior?:wave:wave