Customer gets multiple photo gallery install windows popping up every time he starts his PC.

He clicks ‘cancel’ but it still pops up again at the next restart.

Click on ‘ok’ to install, and it wants an install CD (which customer doesn’t have).

I look at all the obvious places (startup folder, the 2 areas of the windows registry, windows services), but I find nothing.

Since the main reason for the visit is to fix a laptop that runs very slow over the internet (yet other PCs work just fine), I tell the customer I’ll do some research and get back to him with an answer.

I spend a lot of time trying to track down the reasons for the laptop running slowly while loading most websites (and downloading emails in outlook express). I clear temp folders, clear IE caches, I try some ping tests, but the response speeds seem quite normal… very strange. I try to disable TIS, but the laptop is still slow. I eventually have to admit that the problem could be still be TIS (uninstalling it will prove it), but I don’t think it is the cause. I believe that the laptop just needs to have windows reinstalled (much as I hate having to do it).

Customer doesn’t mind re-installing TIS, so I remove Trend.

Well, I’m very surprised to find that the laptop is much faster without TIS!!!

Given that the customer is reasonably computer literate, I tell him to download and install antivir, spywareblaster, and winpatrol (which he is happy to do on his own).

Once back at the office, I do some carefully phrased searches on the continuous photo gallery install. I find the answer from microsoft: msicuu2.exe

I email the program to him, and guide him through using it over the phone… and it works well.

The customer later asks for some website and SEO information for his business… so I might get some ongoing work from this.