Stall when I install new programs on XP PC?

[Doordie]

When I install a new program on my XP PC it gets 2/3 of the way through really fast than hangs for 15 min. or so. I have an 1800 AMD and the PC is fast, but it just hangs. 1% to No processor usage at all! Anyone else have this problem?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Is a single program stalling during installation, or everyone you try? Which program is giving you the fits?

 

[Anubis]

if its just 1 program check teh CD you installing it from. it could be scratched. this happened to me once it was very annoying

 

[Doordie]

Sorry it is every program I install and after 15 min it starts to load again like nothing happened than finishes.

 

[prosaic]

Now that IS interesting!

I wonder if anti-virus software might do this to an installation procedure by checking files (or the whole system?) after detecting changes. Let's say the software you're installing makes a change in a location that the AV software monitors for suspicious activity. If such activity is seen then an aggressive system scan by the AV software is triggered. Have you tried disabling anti-virus software for the duration of the install? Just changing configuration of the AV software might be enough to get around the problem, if the AV software is actually causing this behavior.

I suppose an aggressive indexing service might do something like this, too, but I've never seen it happen before. (What I'm thinking is that, after files are copied onto the hard drive from the installation media, something starts indexing them. But I just can't imagine even insanely aggressive indexing taking so long to do it. And Windows XP's indexing service usually operates only when the system is otherwise idle.)

- prosaic