Can't open Excel

[eg1117]

I am using Office 2007 on a Vista Business machine with SP 2.

I have been using Excel and other Office programs on this machine for
several months without problems.

If I type Excel into the START SEARCH box, or click on the link in the START
MENU, I first get a WINDOWS INSTALLER message followed by a message that
reads, "Problem with Shortcut. This update package could not be opened.
Verify that the update package exists and that you can access it, or contact
the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer
update package."

If I go to add/remove programs and click on the 2007 Microsoft Office system
entry and click CHANGE, a window appears with text that reads, "Please wait
while setup prepares the necessary files" appears briefly and then
disappears.

If I put my Office 2007 CD in my CD-Rom drive, it tries to auto-run. Then I
get a message that reads, "Please wait while setup prepares the necessary
files" then a message that reads, "Setup has stopped working. A problem
caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program
and notify you if a solution is available."

My Windows Update history shows that I installed SECURITY UPDATE FOR
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2007 (KB973593) around the time the problems started to occur.

I am able to use Office programs other than Excel without a problem.

Thanks for your help.

 

[eg1117]

I cannot uninstall that update. From PROGRAMS AND FEATURES if I highlight it
and select UNINSTALL, I get an error message that reads, "The patch package
could not be opened. Verify the patch exists and that you can access it, or
contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows
Installer patch package."

I don't believe I have a restore point for prior to installing that update.