IE 5.0 upgrade

I'm trying to upgrade IE 5.0 but I keep getting an error message: "A previous program installation was never completed - please reboot". Rebooting doesn't help. Seems to be stuck in a loop. Any thoughts? thanks, awayne

You may benefit from using Control Panel - Add/Remove to "uninstall" the current version of IE that your machine has. Add/Remove won't really "uninstall" all of IE. Since IE is an integrated process of the Windows operating system, Add/Remove will only uninstall any updates/add-ons that may have been applied since the original installation of your Windows Operating System. This "may" resolve the issue you are experiencing and pave the way for you to install the update you desire. You can get IE directly from Microsoft Downloads by searching based on the Operating System (Win98, Win2K, XP) that you are running. Best Regards

You could try this…

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?…kb;en-us;310335

I would be interested to know if this solves your problem….

Thanks for your thoughts and replies. dough: it's not listed in the add/removal programs. Jayzeee: went to the site and removed the Pending File Rename Operation. But on reboot still did not work and the Pending…. was returned to the registry. If this helps the Type: REC_Multi_SZ and Data: \??\C:\Winnt\System32\_delete_on_reboot_ld505.t…. Can I change anything to dismantle if I can't delete? BTW: I had previously gone to another site that listed several registry lines for possible deletion to correct the problem but found no values in any of the lines. Again thanks for your help and interest. awayne

You may have an incomplete download, or a downloaded program was not completely installed. If this is the case, IE may keep noticing the partial download and act to complete it as a first priority. If you have experience with a software like CleanUp! 4.0 or CCleaner, you can simply run it if you already have it installed. If not, here's the locations of files that you can safely delete in your attempt to resolve this problem. I'm assuming that your are running Windows XP C:\documents and settings\(any usernames)\local settings\temp C:\documents and settings\(any usernames)\local settings\Temporary Internet Files\content.ie5\ C:\windows\Prefetch\ Now empty your Recycle Bin There are other steps in completely cleaning you machine of temp files, but that should do it for now. You can look in your C:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files and C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations. You can make your own decision about deleting these or not, but can generally do so safely. You will also see what "status" the Downloaded Installation is at…. they should all say "Installed".

dough, running win 2000 deleted all temp files - which i do routinely. didn't help. in fact now IE doesn't work. i get an error message - IE has performed an illegal function and will shut down. i can still use firefox to access web, so it's not pc or web access - comcast. thanks for your help. awayne

Here's a "bottom line" help article from Lawrence Abrams over at BleepingComputers.
He's widely respected, as is the site BleepingComputers.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial71.html

Be very careful, and back-up your Registry if you decide to use the Registry Modification portion of the "fix".

I sure wish that Microsoft had made this easier, but it didn't.

Even after getting your IE fixed, I recommend that you use an alternative browser for most of your online work. I use Opera. Others use Firefox as you do. Keep each updated and use other anti-malware precautions as recommended here at TomCoyote.

Best Regards