"Installation Failed"

Rock Paper Saddam

After getting my new University of Buffalo ID card I was able to partake in a few cheap-to-free software upgrades, including Microsoft Office and a $1.40 copy of XP Professional. Apparently upgrading from Home to Pro can be hampered--maniacally--with newer DirectX and Media Player 9 upgrades. The OS will install but be unverifiable, and I was unable even to log on to my own account. Going to Safe Mode for System Restore doesn't work because System Restore didn't install either. Good Buddy Joe, after a long night of hot dog fellowship and rocking with Diamond Dave Hill, was more than helpful finding fixes online with his laptop well into the night. By 1:30 in the morning I was able to reinstall enough of the OS to--at the very least--boot. I drove home only to find that it would not accept my wireless internet connection. I plugged in an went ahead anyway, hoping that one of the 49 Windows Updates I needed would solve the problem. Something must have happened with either those or my third attempt at Service Pack 1 because I finally got my wireless back at 5:30 AM. This morning I woke up and it "allowed" me to put in Office Pro, which was all I really wanted to do in the first place. Now the only problems I have are a help window that opens for no real reason at startup (which doesn't connect to the site) and a warning box at each boot that says "Installation Failed." But everything else runs okay.

Thank you again, Microsoft. None of your Operating Systems have crashed since Windows 98, and your technical help is far superior to the message boards that criticize you. The past 24 hours have been gravy.