Can't install most programs

[rza123]

i was trying to install mcafee virus scan 9 and when i launch the setup, the setup windows i just blank and will not go any further. i tried norton av 2005 and it will install but after setup finishes and pc reboots, it launches for activation. well some of the graphics are missing from screen and when i click on the next for norton activation wizard, nothing happens. i have pulled the hdd and scanned with several different antivirus prgrams on another pc, panda, housecall, avg, mcafee, norton and they all found nothing. scaned for spyware and did not find one piece, not even a cookie. i noticed also when on the net, i.e. download.com, the download links don't show up. it's almost like these programs have java or some other similiar driven gui's that my system is having issues with. i am running windows xp pro sp2 on 3.2ghz p4, 1gb pc3200 ram, 160gb hdd. ran hijack this and did not see anything out of the ordinary. i am logged in under an adminstrator account also. any help would be appreciated.

[Gecko]

This sounds like it could be a PNG exploit or maybe malware.
I would go to Intelligent Updater and download the latest virus definitions and install them manually
Next boot into safe mode go to My computer right click on your C: drive and select scan with Norton anti-virus.
After Norton has finished reboot to normal run a scan with HijackThis and post the results.

[icecube]

There is also a chance that the registry is out of whack. Try a system restore to a known good date and see if the system is more stable.

Mixing Mcafee with Norton is not a good thing and if AOL is also in the equation, you have my sympathy.

Also if you downloaded the Mcafee from emule, it doesn't auto boot and if you try to start it with any of the executables from the root directory, it will hang like you described.
You need to go in to one of the other folders to run it--I don't think that its a setup.exe file that starts the install.