you incompetent jackasses ....

I now have to jump through an unknown number of hoops trying to get MSE repaired after an automatic update broke it ......... apparently this happened early last month and my antivirus has been running broken since then.

yippie-motherfucking-day I already know that the best solution is going to be to re-install my entire operating system, by that is the last thing I want to do since I have a shit ton of files I have no desire to back up / replace.

*sigh* fuck you Microsoft, why do I continue to suffer your antics (a question I ask myself every time issues like this come up).

So does this mean we won't be seeing you for awhile until you fixed this problem with your computer?

"You're welcome." - Microsoft

Just kidding. Do you have a restore point from a month or so ago? You've probably already thought of that but I had to ask anyways.

Other things to try:

- if you know which update caused the problem, uninstall it
- uninstall MSE, reinstall

Check out bleepingcomputer.com - they have great tech support there.

nah, I'll be here ... even if it means posting on my phone.


the root problem is that a MS update "update" failed, and it failed in such a way that it corrupted whatever bullshit registry entry that the installer package uses to manage the installation (or sum such shit like that).

basically, it failed but in the process of failing it has clogged the registration process for installing / uninstalling MSE.

I managed to use one of MS's "fix it" things to force uninstall MSE so that at least my PC isn't trying to tell me that the program is still installed when it aint. however now I am back to the first issue because I cant install a fresh copy of the program because the same registry files that were blocking me from doing a natural uninstall are preventing me from re-installing it.

*sigh*

Try using CCleaner. That might be able to clean the erroneous registry entries and allow a fresh reinstall of MSE.

"Where do you want to try to go today?"

I thought long and hard about it .... I'm just gonna go through the pain of a clean OS install.

most of what I don't want to loose is on my secondary hard drive and is just files instead of programs, Programs (like games) I can re-download easily but files .... especially ones that came from megaupload ... are a little harder to re-come-by.

there have been some other lasting issues (also probably due to reg files getting fucked by other failed "updates") that I would like to get cleaned up ... *shrug* anything else is mostly just a patch to get me down the road.

Norton and McAffe are great and all, but neither of them can do much to prevent Windows from being installed. I find the best way to prevent being infected by Windows is simply to use something like Linux.

Seriously, though. I don't bother with antivirus. It's an illuminati scam, the people who write the antivirus programs make the viruses. I just boot into Windows for certain games. That's all it's good for. You must admit, much of your problem can be squarely blamed on yourself. If Windows 8, having to possibly reinstall your operating system, not having important files stored/backed up on a partition separate from the OS partition you intend to wipe, and the scourge of Microsoft hasn't convinced you yet, I don't know what to tell you.

I think it's time to look into better options. It's 2012, and "PC" doesn't mean "Microsoft Windows" anymore. If you think Windows is shit and you're tired of Microsoft's bullshit, ask yourself why you'd bother to torture yourself with it anymore. Go burn a CD of Ubuntu or Linux Mint. Try Linux Mint 10, I personally think both distros went to hell after that, but both of them are so stupid easy. At the very least, using a live session of either will be incredibly helpful for accessing and backing up files that your fubar install of Windows is preventing you from doing

Try Uniblue Registry Booster. Helps me sometimes....

actually it's still win xp ... I was thinking about upgrading to 7 just so I could get the increased ram cap (not to mention get decent crossfire drivers from AMD), but I didn't have the cash when NewEgg was having a $20 sale just a little bit ago.

I do need to start forcing the migration to Linux, but I really gotta get some things in order first and now is not the time.

I did a clean install of XP onto my system last year. The update process and service packs actually all went smoothly and automatically. Probably a total of 10-15 restarts. I was completely impressed with how easy it was, to be honest.

So, this might end up being a mixed blessing. My XP desktop now runs better and isn't bogged down by years of remnants from old programs, hard disk clutter, etc.

well, I caved (I mentioned this in another thread) and bought a copy of Win 7 .... it just got here in the mail.

I'm kinda sad to be replacing XP, I have been using this version of windows since 2003 and it has gone through 6 hardware revisions with me since it first showed up installed on a custom built PC from Hypersonic (if anyone even remembers them ... back in the days before NewEgg when being a hard core PC gamer meant you had ordered your rig instead of built it yourself).

.... one last look around the old place before turning out the lights for good.

I lol'd hard at this. I'm building my own rigs since 1990 and before that you only had "IBM compatibles" so this statement is wrong on so many levels.
If you didn't start with the reinstall process you have a lovely tool from Microsoft which is called USMT or user state migration tool. Using it will help you move your profile and files to a new installation. Here's a helpful video:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/migrating-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7.aspx

And there was some poor sod saying that you don't need antivirus programs on your computer. I lol'd even harder. I actually had one guy tell me that, we did a non invasive scan on his rig with kaspersky rescue cd, just to prove me wrong. He had over 4000 pieces of various viruses/trojans/malware in his system.
Even a free AV like avg or avira will help you keep your system clean, plus if your rig is half decent you won't feel any problem with it even while gaming. I always have latest KIS installed and my games are running smoothly.

good for you, the rest of us mere mortals typically didn't have access to the resources necessary to construct our own PCs :P

I just did a clean install, copied what files I didn't want to loose to my secondary hard drive and let the rest go.

whoever says that Win 7 is the most stable thing ever is so full of shit their eyes are brown, I had two blue screens and three hard locks during the process of updating off of MS update.

I have brown eyes and never had a problem with Win7 x64. I would have preferred XP x64, but it wasn't stable/supported enough. At least you didn't go to Win8.