I've had most of the same problems in this thread. Brand new laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (no XP mode). They don't tell you when you buy it that it will most likely NOT be compatible with ANYTHING you are used to using......Office, Outlook Express, some games, some financial software. You will learn it the hard way!
Installed Office XP Pro.............it seemed to install, but then couldn't launch it, open it or use it, and then couldn't uninstall it either (it must do something to the Windows Installer in Windows 7). Installed Open Office.............it worked, but then I couldn't uninstall it. Tried to download Virtual Box..............wouldn't download. All these attempts to install produced .msi errors