Windows Installer Keeps popping up??

Everytime I type a new address in my address bar, and hit return, I get a windows installer box that pops up. It says "Perparing to install", so I hit cancel, and it pops up 4-5 times, then will finally let my browser goto the page I have typed.

This just started today. I am using Internet Explorer, and Windows XP.

 

My most immediate guess is that something is broken either in IE or one of its installed components, which could be anything from a QuickTime plugin to malware, although I strongly doubt the latter because they almost NEVER use windows installer technology. Have you given it time to finish whatever it was trying to do and do a restart? And have you installed or uninstalled any new software recently?

Download Process Explorer

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Process_Explorer_d4566.html

Then open it while the installer is installing. Look for a msiexec.exe running within that list and see what command line it was run with. That should give an idea about what it keeps trying to install.

 

Have you tried the MS Installer clean up tool?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/en-us
Read the article, and then download and run the clean up tool. The link to download the tool is about a third of the way down, just above the big grey window labeled "Contents of ReadMe.txt".

 

I have let it finished, and it does nothing. Just goes away.

 

Open process explorer. Under View go to Select Columns..., go to the Process Image tab and check Command Line. You will now have a column showing the command line for each process. Keep PE running.

Now reproduce the incident by opening IE and trying to access a page. When the installer pops up again, while it's still running, switch to PE and look for "msiexec.exe". Printscreen, or write down its command line, and paste it here.

 

Well, have you?
You could also try re-installing Windows Installer 3.1. Here's the link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893803/en-us
For some reason, I wasn't able to go to the download page for the .exe for Windows Installer. Go to this link ^ ^ ^ and the download link for the .exe is about a third of the way down the page.