Bear with me while I try to explain everything(thanks).

I've been using InstallShield to distribute my application for a few years now,
but suddenly I'm having some problems.

Note that InstallShield personnel are not useful in solving this issue - I need a GEEK.

I don't know that it's InstallShield, however, my installation does not always function properly,
and afterwards many Windows basic functions are broken.
This has occurred on Windows XP Pro SP2, SP3, and Server 2003.
These are clean builds - I've checked them myself.

I have made different installers recently and they all work fine.

For example, after the bad install:
*) Can't run Search from Start
*) Can't drag any icons on desktop (but can dbl-click and execute them)
*) can't drag icons within explorer folders either
*) can't get properties on network connections - "An unexpected error occurred"
*) can't connect to Internet with IE 7, but can with FireFox 3 (have to kill IE process with TaskMgr)
*) rebooting does not help, safe mode does not help, can't use system restore - they never work.

I suspect that the root of the problem is that some dll or ocx included in my installer did not register correctly, but also other Reg entries were corrupted.

So I have two problems I need to resolve.
1) I have to fix my own machine so that it works properly (I would prefer not to rebuild it)
- I have tried XP SP3 - but it fails installation
- I have tried system restore to several points - they all fail
2) I need to determine why the Installer is failing and corrupting the target machines.

I have uploaded some screenshots of some of the Installer problems.
snap1: This occurs much of the time when starting an install.
On XP machines, it can be fixed by unregistering/registering msiexec.
This does not seems to work on 2003.

snap2: This particular OCX usually fails to register (but not always!).

snap3: Registering 'by hand' does not work either.

snap4: After this process, unregistering the offending OCX fails too.

snap5: When trying to run uninstll after all these other problems, this error shows up.
Once the uninstall is completed (or canceled if necessary) the Windows problems listed above begin.
Most often, the machine is rebuilt since I can't find a solution to the problem (list).

Can anyone offer any help on either account?

THANKS!