My issue is similar to other posts, but with a little twist:

I installed Clean Installer a long while ago. I have always stored it on an external hard drive, and that worked fine. But our external recently stopped working so I don't have access the the version of Clean Installer that I originally installed. Soooo, I decided to redownload CI, this time onto my laptop. It gives me the error that others have talked about (about how you have to remove older versions before you can install the newest version). The problem, obviously, is that I don't have access to that external hard drive so therefore I can't uninstall CI. Not sure why an older version is even showing up at all, since it was never actually installed on this computer.

I have a Dell laptop and it uses Windows {gasp} Vista Home Premium. I see that other Vista users have had some issues, but I don't know if my issue is Vista-related. That's for more computer-savvy folks than I to (hopefully) decide ;o)

Thanks!

Check my sticky at the top of this forum called 'Try This First'. It contains instructions for removing all registry keys related to the Clean Installer from your computer. Even though the CI was installed on your other drive, the registry keys are stored on your main hard drive along with the OS. So you need to remove them so that you can install the program again.

Thanks so much for your quick response!

I tried "try this first" first. LOL When I open up "my computer" there is nothing there except OS (C; Recovery (D; and DVD Drive (E. No other files at all. Am I looking in the wrong place? I even did a search on "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" in all of my drives and it didn't find anything. AARRRGGGHHHHH!!

Those are not files or directories on your hard drive. Those are registry entries. You will need to use something like RegEdit.exe to access them.

WARNING: RegEdit is hazardous to inexperienced users! It is a power tool that allows you to destroy your operating system when not used with care. It is also often the only tool available to do certain jobs.

Read my sticky again- thoroughly. I link to an article I wrote on removing the Sims 2 game keys from the registry- the same applies to the CI except you have to remove the keys I mention in the sticky. My articles also link to the Microsoft site explaining about the risks of registry editing, and explaining how to backup the registry. Please read all information carefully so that you understand what you are doing.

Okay, I'll go and read through it all again. I'm embarrassed to say, my ignorance is showing.

But I must take this opportunity to thank you all for everything that you do to help those of us who just have little or no clue. LOL

Hehe, no need for embarassment! However, we do try to cover everything in our forum stickies and Wiki- it just requires reading! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Problem solved! Removing the CI keys took care of it. YOU ROCK!!! ;o)

Well done for fixing it- good work!