ATI control panel installer comes up whenever I try to install *anything*

[crooked22]

WEird problem here.

I am having a problem whenever I try to install anything. Im not sure how to explain it, so please bear with me if something doesnt make sense.

If I put a CD in the drive (say a game cd) it autoplays except that when I click "INSTALL" instead of bringing up the game's installer, it brings up the "ATI Control Panel" Installer instead (with the options: modify, remove, etc.). This happens to pretty much EVERY time.

As a work around, I can browse the CD contents, click on the setup.exe file itself, and it would run just fine.

Fine and dandy until I downloaded Anarchy Online. I extract, click on install.exe, and ATI CP comes up also. I click on setup.exe, but it tells me to click on install.exe instead. So I cannot get past this.

In my opinion, this is either an ATI or windows issue (most likely an ATI one, as it only happens with THAT app, but I honestly do not know).

Is there a service or something that I might have turned off that controls these behaviours? Im avoiding reformatting at all costs, as with all the stuff I got is time consuming.

 

[montag451]

Have you scanned for virus or malware.
When did this prob begin. What had happened previously

 

[crooked22]

I scanned with Systemworks (lates definitions and everything) and it was fine.

I actually remembered this happening in the past. But honestly, I do not know what caused it to start.
Once a while ago, I upgraded ATI drivers to 4.9, and that seemed to be about the first time I noticed. But I had to
reformat as the video card failed. RMA'd. Got a new one back. Reformatted. Reinstalled 4.9's. Tweak some
services, but I never noticed anything for a while.

It seems to be very specific in when it happens, though (when launching from autoplay).

 

[mechBgon]

How new is your Systemworks, what year (2003, 2004, 2005)? The 2004 and 2005 Norton Antivirus detect what they call "Expanded Threats" like dialers, Trojans, adware and spyware. You can scan for more spyware/adware using Spybot Search & Destroy and Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal, and I have some easy ways to enhance your security here under the Ongoing prevention section too.

But here is my hunch about the problem: clear out your C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory and reboot, and see if that helps.