Well, this may seem like a dumb question, but I can't seem to find an answer anywhere else: since "msi" files only orchestrate the installation of downloads, can they be safely removed afterwards for disk space recovery, or must they be eternally lurking in the nether regions? Jinxdragon Catrancher

Jinxdragon, off the top of my head, dunno. Usually, if you 'hide' a questionable file, you can determine if you need it or not. What if you simply move the file to another folder (or maybe better yet, to removable disk) and see if all seems well? If needed, easy to put back, otherwise... HTH. Ed in Texas.

Not dumb at all. A great question, well stated. I dunno either, but I would take Ed's approach. M2 If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

Recognize Files That Are Imperative To Your System! Quoted: With Windows 2000 and Windows Me, Microsoft introduced a new software installation method called Microsoft Installer Service(MSI), which aims to make it easier to install/uninstall applications. Several third-party applications bundle the installer, which Windows 95/98 (Win9x) and Windows NT can also use. Applications that use the installer have associated files with an .MSI extension. Without the MSI files, the applications won't work. i_XpUser

Hey Ed in Texas, Mechanix2Go & XPUser thanks for your assistance. I don't mind leaping into stuff, but I do like to look first, and your suggestions got me headed in the right direction. I found 3 *.msi files related to CounterSpy and moved them to a temp folder, then ran CS and it worked just fine. Of course I'll back the files up to a Zip disk just in case. At the least, I found 4 files for things I'd uninstalled long ago, so this worked out well in any event. I thank you each a lot. Jinxdragon Catrancher

Jinxdragon, looks like there're some that we need. Any 'leftovers' oughta be extra IMHO. We used to call that approach a 'smoke test'. LOL Ed in Texas.