Microsoft Office installer starts for no reason

[Relztrah]

OS: Widows XP Home

I have noticed on my mother-in-law's computer that when I launch certain programs, specifically her SAFE & SECURE Web filter, the Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business installer opens. Eventually I get the dialog box prompting me for the installation CD. The feature you are trying to use is on a CD-ROM or other removable disk that is not available. Inset the Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business disk and click OK

Why am I being prompted to install the Office CD? I installed Office 2000 on her machine myself with no problems or error messages, and all Office components work fine. What's going on?

Thanks,
Relztrh

[Sylvander]

Looks like at least one linkage is wrong.
e.g.
How do you launch these "certain programs"?
Using a shortcut on the Start Menu?
What is the "Target" of that shortcut?
The correct exe file?
Or the "Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business installer"? [surely not that simple]

Does the "certain program" run and also the "Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business installer"?

Try deleting the history of all files recently accessed. [Or just the link to that particular file]
Either that or put the CD in the drive before carrying out these actions.
[Could be that Windows is auto-checking that all media are currently available that held files that were recently accessed]

[Relztrah]

Microsoft Office 2000 Small Business installer launches when I try to update the SAVE & SECURE web filter. S&S itself auto-launches at boot-up. (I believe it's in the startup folder.)

The actual target is: "C:\Program Files\SafeandSecure\SafeandSecure\app\ESPClient.ex e"

In fact Office installer doesn't launch with S&S. Rather, it launches only when I click on the Update Now button. So obviously the problem is with the update feature which updates content filters, antivirus definitions, etc.

Where do I look to find out what's going on?

Thanks,
Relztrah

[Sylvander]

1. "it launches only when I click on the Update Now button...Where do I look to find out what's going on?"
My guess is...
A glitch in the interactions/linkages with/within the registry.
Looks like [when you hit the "Update Now" button] the registry is giving incorrect instructions for what to run.
You might try...

(a) Go into Safe Mode to minimise registry accesses; run Regmon.exe [Registry Monitor]; do the "Update Now" thing to generate the registry accesses; stop recording accesses; read the recorded accesses looking for the faulty interactions.
You may need to...
Stop recording; delete all recorded accesses; re-enable recording; complete the action; stop recording.

(b) Look/search in the recorded accesses for a registry data setting pointing to the Small Business Installer exe with its address [do you know which file that is?]

(c) You could "Save As" [the recorded accesses as] a log file, then open with Wordpad and search for something appropriate.
[The Small Business Installer address & filename?]

Or else...
(d) Search the data settings in Regedit for that in the hope you find something interesting.
This isn't so good as using Regmon.
Regmon makes it possible to gain some understanding of the registry interactions so as to see what's going wrong.

[Relztrah]

I finally got back to this situation and upon running regmon I get the message Windows cannot find 'regmon'. Make sure you typed the name correctly.... ect.

[Sylvander]

You need to install the FREE programs...

RegMon for Windows v7.04 (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Regmon.mspx)

FileMon for Windows v7.04 (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Filemon.mspx)

[Paul Komski]

I think that MSOffice generally likes to find the installer program in the same identical position that it was in at the time of installation. If drive letters have changed in the interim, for example, just such messages can ensue. When installing MS Office some settings are for the CD to be looked for "on first use" though not installed at the time. That may be why certain apps are now looking for the installaiton files. If you have loads of room on the drive then redo the install and select "All from My Computer" for all components you are likely to use.

[Relztrah]

Thanks very much to both of you for your advice. Since I am unfamiliar with the registry, and don't know what I'm looking for there, I'll attempt a new installation of Office using the All From My Computer setting. I was at her house last evening and also noticed that when I updated the Parental Controls in SAFE & SECURE (which I have in place since my son also uses that computer) the Office installer also launched. So there is definitely some glitch occurring with her SAFE & SECURE web filter.

If a re-installation of Office doesn't correct the problem, I'll download, install and run RegMon and post back for instructions.

Thanks again,
Relztrah

[Paul Komski]

If you are running WinXP SP2 then FileMon and RegMon are considered legacy and you should use Process Monitor (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/processmonitor.mspx) in their place. All of them are tools I am most unfamiliar with since I have very seldom had cause to use them "in anger".