Windows Installer Appears Every Time I Start an Application

The Windows Installer is a global application used to install many Microsoft products, including Office 2000 and Office XP, and is even available to third-party developers to include with their programs.

Unfortunately, it's fraught with bugs, one of which is its tendency to appear every time you start Office (or some other programs) and begin a reinstallation or reconfiguration process. All you'll see is the "Please Wait" screen, followed by a progress bar. The problem is related to the This feature will be installed when required option (sometimes called "Install on Demand"), used when installing some applications. In essense, Windows Installer starts to install a "feature" when it is needed, even though it may be already installed.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Microsoft will not acknowledge that there is a serious flaw in thier installer software. Here are the solutions we've come up with so far:

Solution #1:
Reinstall the application in question, and don't choose the This feature will be installed when required for any of the optional components.

However, this may not solve the problem (which is the very bug we're talking about). We're currently looking for a way to fix the problem properly, but in the mean time, here's how to turn off the "feature:"

Solution #2

• Open the Group Policy Editor by selecting Run from the Start Menu, and typing gpedit.msc. (If the file is missing, run mmc.exe instead. Then, select Add/Remove Snap-in from the Console menu, click Add, and double-click Group Policy. Click Finish, then Close, then Ok.)
• Expand the following branches: Local Computer Policy \ Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Windows Components \ Windows Installer
• Double-click Disable Windows Installer to your right, click Enabled, and choose Always from the list. Click Ok when you're done.
• The change will take effect immediately. If you added a snap in, as described above, you don't need to "save changes to the console."

Note: If you encounter an error about the Administrator Policy the next time you try to install an application, you'll have to re-enable the Windows Installer temporarily.


Solution #3 (for Office 2000 only):

• Run the Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE).
• Expand the branches to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Office\ 9.0\ Common.
• Delete the UserData value on your right, and close the Registry Editor.
• The next time you start an Office application, it will ask for your username, but shouldn't bother you again.

Courtesy : http://annoyances.org/exec/show/article08-103

Freeware driver updater software

Device Doctor is a freeware Windows application that scans your computer hardware and checks to see if there are new driver updates available for your devices. It also locates drivers for "unidentified devices" in the Windows Device Manager.

Download

Spooler SubSystem App stopped working and was closed

you might encounter this error in both windows xp and windows vista operating system, most commonly for any of the HP printers caused when the print spooler is stopped.

First you need to check the print spoler settings, follow the below steps.

Click the Start button.

Click Control Panel.

Click System and Maintenance.

NOTE: This step is not required when using Classic view in Windows Vista.


Click Administrative Tools.

Double-click Services.

Locate the Print Spooler entry.

Right-click the Print Spooler icon and then click Restart.

A progress message will be displayed.

Right-click "Print Spooler" and select "Properties".

In the General tab make sure that the startup type is set to Automatic. Click on the Start button of the Service Status is Stopped.

Click on the "Recovery" tab and change all 3 drop-down boxes to "Restart The Service".

Make sure the 2 text boxes underneath say "1" in them.
Select the 'Log on' Tab and make sure that the 'Local system Account' is selected and click Apply and OK

Then, try to print or to access the Print Properties or install the drivers as applicable.

if you are still unable to access or print from the printer, follow the below steps:

1.Click Start > Control Panel.

2.Go to Programs and Features in Control Panel.

3.In the left side, Click "Turn Windows features on or off"

4.Click + sign of Print services

3. Check Mark and select LPD and LPR. You should remove the check box against "Internet Printing Client".

4.Restart the PC to ensure there is no error of spooler service.

Important:

This sometimes require two attempts, first Select LPD and LPR and save the changes. Select the "Internet Printing Client" as well.

Click Apply and OK.

Restart the PC to ensure that the steps are enabled.

Go back and de-select Internet Printing Client. This one causes a reboot again

Alternatively, try selecting the option print directly to printer in the printer properties instead of using the spooler option.

Slow USB 2.0 file transfer on Windows XP

USB storage devices can be optimized for either quick removal or performance. If optimized for quick removal, data transfer can potentially be reduced to a crawl.

To optimize your USB drive for performance:

1. Right click on the USB drive and select properties
   
2. Select the Hardware tab
   
3. Under All Disk Drives, highlight your USB drive and select Properties
   
4. Select the Policies tab and select Optimize for performance.
   
5. Press OK twice, and your transfer speeds should increase dramatically
   

Note that when your drive is optimized for performance you’ll need to use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar to eject the drive – otherwise you’ll risk corrupting your data by just removing the drive from the port.