I'm attemting to assist son-in-law long distance with problem he is having. He is switching DSL providers, so had to temporarily use dial-up via modem. He loaded Earthlink package which worked successfully for a couple of days. Then he started getting message "Windows could not load installer for modem. Contact hardware vendor for assistance". Anytime he attempts to access the modem in devices or anywhere else, he gets this msg. He tried pulling it out, rebooting to get P&P to recognize its deletion, and replacing - no help. The problem has now also extended to his NIC, even though it is not currently being used. I have seen the same message (diff devices) in problem descriptions on other support sites, but none with an adequate resolution. He wasn't doing any install at the time the msg first appeared. Anyone have any clues?