Thanks for your response.

I didn’t do the system restore with the uninstallation of IE8 in mind. At
the time I thought I could use restore to reset my system details to get
around the “access denied” error (which I ‘ve just remembered mentioned
System32). Clearly, a major misunderstanding on my part, and not the most
clever decision I’ll ever make. I also used it because XP “helpfully” says
any restore can be undone, so I thought if it doesn’t work, I‘ll undo it.
Clearly this is not the case either.

I am running AVG 8.5 (fully up to date), Malwarebyte’s AM, A2 Free, Spyware
Blaster and Online Armor firewall in addition to Defender. All except A2 (and
AM?) would have been active as I ran the install through Windows Update and
it did not state the need to disable them. I have since read your post from
6/25 stating not to install IE8 via Update, alas, too late for me.

I have never had McAfee or Norton installed, either trial or full.

I do have earlier restore points available.

Many thanks

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:

> [Crossposted to IE General]
>
> May I ask why you used System Restore without first uninstalling IE8? (You
> should NEVER use System Restore to "undo" an installation of anything!)
>
> What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
> subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
> What third-party firewall (if any)? Were any of these applications running
> in the background when you installed IE8?
>
> Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this machine
> (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought it)?
>
> Just asking for now!! Do NOT use such a Restore Point yet!! => Do you have
> an available Restore Point which predates the install of IE8 (i.e., one
> earlier than the one you used)?
>
> No-charge support for Internet Explorer 8 installation, set-up and usage
> (only) is available via the phone based on your locale through 31 December
> 2009. Customers must be running Windows XP or Windows Vista in a non-domain
> environment.
> => US & CA Residents: 1-866-234-6020
> => Other locales: https://support.microsoft.com/oas/de...px?&prid=13043
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
>
>
> Marchie wrote:
> > I hope I am posting this in the correct place.
> >
> > I have XP Pro SP3 installed. On 30/06/09 the Windows Update icon stated
> > there were updates to install. Upon running, it was the install for IE8,
> > along with some other updates including the Microsoft Malicious Software
> > Removal Tool. The update ran, advised me that IE8 had been successfully
> > installed and that I needed to restart the computer, which I did. And then
> > my woes began..
> >
> > On the restart, just before the desktop populated an error message
> > appeared
> > along the lines of "Access denied, you may not have permission". (I am the
> > administrator account). Unfortunately, I did not write down the full
> > detail
> > but clicked ok. The computer continued the restart but IE would not
> > connect
> > at all – it didn’t even open.
> >
> > Realising the update had not worked successfully, I decided to try system
> > restore. The most recent ones (including that morning) had Software
> > Distribution Service 3.0, so I selected the last System Checkpoint. Upon
> > completion of the restore, a message appeared advising me there were some
> > file duplications and that the following files had been renamed in
> > C:\Windows\System32: xmllite.dll to xmllite(2).dll and normaliz.dll to
> > normaliz(3).dll. Presumably this was to preserve the integrity of the
> > original files.
> >
> > Upon running, tried IE again. This time IE7 opened, but crashed. As the
> > restore did not work, I then tried to undo the restore, and this didn’t
> > work
> > either. Restore Incomplete – changes not made. Nor would using one of the
> > Software Distribution 3.0 restore points. So now I could not get my
> > computer
> > back to where I started. Although I cannot get my browser to work, I can
> > still access my email using Outlook which connects fine to the server.
> >
> > I am lucky that I have access to another computer, so I googled IE8 and
> > Software Distribution Service 3.0 and sure enough, a plethora of people
> > with
> > problems around both became evident.
> >
> > From the information reviewed, I tried the following:
> >
> > Reset Windows Security settings back to default using Fix it For Me
> > (article
> > ID 949220)
> >
> > Tried Add/Remove Programs – IE8 not showing, so tried
> > %windir%\IE8\spuninst\spuninst.exe in Cmd.exe (article ID 957700).
> >
> > Neither of these worked.
> >
> > I checked my event log and it stated that IE8 installed correctly, then
> > the
> > next entry was failed to reboot. In searching my files it would appear
> > IE8
> > is not there – would this be a result of the restore that I did?
> >
> > I am also perplexed that in article 949220 “Prerequisites installed by
> > IE8”
> > that the Malicious Software Removal Tool is for SP2, but I have SP3.
> >
> > So, to my question – How do I get my PC back to the position it was in on
> > Tuesday morning before I allowed the Update to take place and cause such a
> > big headache? I think I’ll be happy just to get IE7 running and ditch
> > IE8.
> >
> > Sorry this post is so long but I hope I have given a sufficiently full
> > explanation to allow someone to resolve the problem.
>
>