Norton 360

[darthgatorone]

I am not computer savvy, so this message will probably be unduly long. I have a four year old Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista 64 bit system. I use IE9 as my browser.

On 5/05 I received a notice from Norton that there was an upgrade available for my Norton 360 Premier Edition. I started the installation and got a notice that there was a conflict between the Norton product and my System Mechanic program and was instructed to uninstall the System Mechanic. Since I have been using both Norton 360 and System Mechanic for a couple of years, I elected to skip the "uninstallation" and go ahead with the update.

On 5/11 I received a notice from Windows that I had 22 updates waiting to be installed. This was unusual in that I never had that many updates available before. It was also unusual when I ran Windows update that only 11 of the 22 updates successfully installed. Previously in four years I never had a failed Windows update installaton. In trying to find out what was going on (Microsoft assistance is horrible) I checked to see if my JavaScript was up-to-date and found that there was, in fact, a newer version available. However, when I tried to download it, I got the following message: "Windows Installer System could not be accessed. This can occur if Windows Installer was not correctly installed." In further diagnostics, I tried to check on my Windows services, but in the local services list, Windows Installer did not appear.

Questions:

1. Why are my Norton 360 Premier edition and System Mechanic incompatible, and should I uninstall System Mechanic.

2. Could the incompatibility between Norton 360 and System Mechanic have anything to do with my udate failures?

3. Could the Norton update or System Mechanic have eliminated my Windows Installer?

4. What in the world can I do to resolve this issue?

[peterweb Super RootKit Eradicator]

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darthgatorone wrote:

Questions:

1. Why are my Norton 360 Premier edition and System Mechanic incompatible, and should I uninstall System Mechanic.

2. Could the incompatibility between Norton 360 and System Mechanic have anything to do with my udate failures?

3. Could the Norton update or System Mechanic have eliminated my Windows Installer?

4. What in the world can I do to resolve this issue?

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Welcome

1. There is always a possiblilty with a new version of a program comes out that there can be incompatibilities created. These two programs have some overlap in the utilities included, and that could cause the problem. Whether you uninstall depends on how much you need the utilities involved.

2. Norton would not interfere with Windows updates. I have had times when all the updates did not complete on the first try. Rebooting and trying again usually fixed this. As to the number of updates, do you have updates for just the OS or for all Microsoft products ie. Office?

3. See 2 above.

4. Reboot, run LiveUpdate until no updates are available, reboot, run Windows updates until no updates available. If you are still having problems, we will find something else to try.

[darthgatorone]

Bless you, Peter. I've been running round and round with Windows "Answers" for days to no avail. I'm not very computer saavy, so this response will be rather long. I apologize in advance.

I have a four year old Toshiba laptop with Vista Home Premium 64bit system, and I've never had a problem with Windows updates before (for almost 4 yrs). Suddenly, on 5/11 I clicked on the Windows update icon as I was turning off my computer, and the process indicated that there were 22 updates, which was very unusual. I never before had that many updates waiting to be installed. 11 of the updates were installed, 11 were not. Since then, I keep receiving notice that there are 11 updates waiting to be installed. I've tried use Windows update many, many times, but each time the installation of all 11 updates fails. I've tried to use the "fix-it" option many times to no effect. Each time I use the "fix-it" option, it reports that the update components must be repaired and, subsequently, that the problems have been "fixed". However, the updates still won't install. I've tried rebooting an infinite number of times. I've tried "restore". I ran an SFC scan and got a report that some corrupted files had been fixed but that others could not be repaired. I don't know enough to get the details. I've tried running any number of fixes suggested, but none have worked. One suggested typing cmb into the Start search window, then right clicking on Computer and then on Manage. Then I clicked on Services  as instructed, but when I scrolled down in the details pane to click on Windows Installer, there was no "Windows Installer" listed. It's missing. In trying another more detailed fix, I checked to see what my JavaScript version is, and I found an update was available. However, when I clicked on update, I got an error message saying that the Windows Installer could not be accessed and that this often was a result of an incorrect installation. Today I ran a Norton deep scan and rebooted again. No luck. I'm more than frustrated.

Now to try and answer your questions.:

No. 2. I'm showing 11 updates that have repeatedly failed to install, including, but not limited to Security updates for MS Office 2007 Suites, MS Office Excel 2007, MS NET Framework 3.5 SP1, and MS Silverlight.

No. 4. I'll try to follow your instructions, but I'll probably be back.

Thanks again for your attention

Ben Hendricks

darthgatorone

[peterweb Super RootKit Eradicator]

There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article about a new version of the Windows Installer. If you download that and install, it should get the Installer service back for you. You can find it here.

That may be the issue with the Windows Updates not installing correctly.

[darthgatorone]

I tried the steps you delineated in #4 with the following results: I ran Norton LiveUpdates successfully. However, when I ran the Windows updates, the available 11 updates failed multiple times.

I also tried to run the Restore and repair program several times with differing restore point dates and times to no avail. Each time I received a message that the restore operation could not be completed because of an "unknown error" with no further details.

I also tried to upload a new version of JavaScript  (I think I already mentioned this) and a new version of Skype, but both uploads were unsuccessful. Upon both failures, I received an error message to the effect that the Windows Installer could not be accessed and that this was often a result of an incorrect installation of the Windows Installer System.

As I  mentioned earlier, when trying other remedies I discovered that the Windows Installer is missing from my programs/ local services. And I can't get any answers over on the Microsoft/Windows Answers forum. Moreover, since I'm now living in Mexico City, I can't "chat" with a Windows service tech.

If you've ever read the book Catch-22 by Joseph Heller,  you will know exactly how I feel. If not, read the book. It's one of the great American novels. But just in case you haven't read it, here's the explanation of a Catch-22 from Wikipedia:

"A catch-22 is a  paradoxical situation in which an individual cannot avoid a problem because of contradictory constraints or rules. Often these situations are such that solving one part of a problem only creates another problem, which ultimately leads back to the original problem. Catch-22s often result from rules, regulations, or procedures that an individual is subject to but has no control over.The term catch-22 was coined by Joseph Heller in his novel Catch-22. Initially this is based on the explanation of the character Doc Daneeka as to why any pilot requesting a psych evaluation hoping to be found not sane enough to fly, and thereby escape dangerous missions, would thereby demonstrate his sanity."

And any minute now, I think someone from Microsoft is coming to "disappear" me.

Thanks again for your help.

[dweller9]

I signed up to this forum just to give you all a hand on this issue  even though I don't use Norton products, although some of my clients do.  This has been a tough nut to crack with many suggesting it's a Vista Service Pack 2 issue or related to MS updates.  The problem does not effect Win 7 machines in my experience.  MS Support reccomends a myriad of fixes all aimed at reregistering or updating Windows Installer none of which work and most of which require a functional Windows Installer to begin with. 

The problem is actually caused by System Mechanic removing or moving Windows Installer following a particular MS update that was released after Service Pack 2 was released.  Unforntunately, rollbacks of System Mechanic's restor function do not fix the problem.  The only fix I've found is to use Windows Restore to take the OS back in time to before the problem occurred or System Mechanic was installed or to directly after Service Pack 2 was installed.  All require a lot of work, but seem better than doing a reinstall of the OS, which I did on the first machine I worked on with this problem.

Since the problem is a conflict between System Mechanic and Microsoft's updates, It's up to iolo to make the appropriate updates to System Mechanic to accomodate the Windows update responsible for the incompatability.  In the meantime, be forwarned that cleaning the registry with System Mechanic on any Vista machine can put your sanity at risk.

Hope this can help the many who are experiencing this problem and are unable to find a work around.