Big advocate for if it an't broke don't fix it, but do other also have it installed twice? You can check default Windows/XPH's folder to see at... C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32 ..and... C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\1050\Intel 32 My running a BelArc profile is what tipped me off to this oddity, and I stumbled across 2 indicated running InstallShields while I was looking for something else. Also, on my 2 yr old system, the driver folder lists a number of InstallShield drivers, 7 (May 2004), 9 (Apr 2007), 11 (May 2006), and then 10 (Dec 2006) which are oddly explorer listed numerically in that order (regardless of their also oddly out of sequence folder dates). Just seems like not only there seemingly being 2 InstallShields, evidence of what indicates two running InstallShields, evidence of having been up to 4 installed with only 2 of those being unistalled. Hmmm. Regards and hap-e-trails, Steve Hopper

Its not uncommon. I've seen systems with 4 versions. What you don't need is the updaters running at boot time. Those you can eliminate. However I would not remove or attempt to remove these installs. J. j e r u v y a t y a h o o d o t c o m

Yes, I know, I make a lot of use out of Computer Management, manually setting, even disabling un-needed startup services as well as use of msconfig and other utilities. A great source for trimming stuff down is the elder geek's website, but theres' so much stuff going on, we still need to compare notes. Regards and hap-e-trails, Steve Hopper

Most of the Macrovision software is kernel level driver, so you won't see them. The core utilities (for updating, etc) you can see. Check out their web site for more details. J. j e r u v y a t y a h o o d o t c o m

Thank you for replying. Not sure what you are saying. Are you saying that even though I've disabled InstallShield from running (until I need to use it and I re-enable/start it back up only for the time needed to install things) that there is 'something' I won't see? Regards and hap-e-trails, Steve Hopper

Ok, the updater you've disabled can stay disabled they are not needed to run nor to check for updates. However that does not stop the drivers from working when they need to. Some software you bought (ie: Office. Many games, etc.) starts, it invokes the installshield. Attempts to remove or disable this could cause problems. If you were really concerned about the amount I would recommend a fresh build and then track each install you do noting which install what versions of installsheild. Some are installed with Windows also (some package dependancies). I won't pretend to know all the in's and out's, suffice I do not touch it, short of killing the boottime processes which are simply updaters and phone home apps. Many of it's reg entries even have warnings about deleting them. Heed them. Hope that's clearer :) J. j e r u v y a t y a h o o d o t c o m

Thank you for repying. Well put. Still unclear about why you've mentioned "Macrovision" software being kernel level driver, "so you won't see them". From what I already understand about InstallShield, as I think you might have said, users needn't run it as it only appears on XP systems Services list after iTunes 5 installs (and originally is set then as "automatic"), so as it needn't even run until needed, I set it to "manual". Note that anytime I install any program, based on how I've already set Services to run, I re-start Install Driver Table Manager (aka InstallShield) and Windows Installer (going to Service settings, etc.) and afterwards, I stop go back and stop those two from running. I now realize that most likely that's how I've gotten duplicated InstallShields, it's multiple drivers and why their folders are oddly out of sequence as perhaps for some of my installs, I overlooked starting the Install Driver Table Manager and the those parts of the system were re-creating themselves). Again, if it an't "broke", I don't fix it, but here it seems that MS again is blindly 'fixing' things (sometimes even beneficially). But to explain why it seems I lent myself to duplications, I believe running with those two services "started" tends to allow more things getting installed w/o permission. As for "disabling", I only do that sparingly, Automatic Updates as an example minimizes chances of bad* things happening. (*) Bad guys don't always wear a black hat, ref. undisclosed rootkit installs, one of which I suspect is/was MS's SDS 2.0 (presumably spyware wearing an update helper mask) which locks users out of their restore points when silently updates itself each month (until you luck out and get it off your system). I digress so much. Thanks again for replies. Regards and hap-e-trails, Steve Hopper