Originally posted by Tonto_Samurai
Here is my 'saga' in a nutshell:
EU didn't work. A few months ago I had downloaded an infected MS file but thought nothing of it. So I uninstalled it, hoping to reinstall with a fresh start. However, it will not reinstall. I get the following message:
"An I/O error occured while installing a file. This is normally caused by bad installation media or a corrupt installation file."
Please help! 
First, I have to ask: are you sure your CD-ROM drive and disk are both ok? Can you play other CDs from your reader?
2) Uninstal EU the regular way, and then delete the entire directory (probably C:\PROGRAM FILES\PARADOX...). Note that you will lose your savegames. You need to backup them if you want to keep them.
3) Start regedit (Start => Run => regedit => Enter). In the registry menu select "Export registry file...", give it a name (let's say "backup280601.reg" and select "All" in the export range below. You now have a backup of your registry and if something was to go wrong, you won't be left in the dark.
3a)Search for "Paradox" and delete everything you find.
4) In windows Explorer, in the "search for files" box type *.* and in the "Containing text" box type "EUROPA". Rename every file left with the extension .OLD (for example, if there is a file called SETUP.INI, rename it SETUP.INI.OLD). That way you wil disable it, and in case it was a good file (we never know!), you'll just have to remove the .OLD and everything will be allright again.
5) Proceed with using Scandisk and Defrag (or Norton Disk Doctor and Norton Speed Disk if your have them, they do a better job).
6) Use a couple of your software (Internet Explorer, mail, some games) just to be sure that we did nothing wrong, and then re-install EU.
7) Play the game
8) If it doesn't work
, the only thing left would be to re-format your hard drive and re-install Windows. I can provide you with the steps you need before doing it, but for the actual part of doing it, I'd recommend you get the help of a professionnal. Usually, it is a pretty simple process, but some problems can occur sometimes, so if you've never done it, better let someone else do the job for you.
Hope it helps...
