When I try I get a little box called Windows Installer telling me it's "preparing to install".
After a good few minutes I then get an error box saying
"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."
Am I right in thinking I've missed some sort of update? How do I go about sorting this? My PC is getting on a bit!
Sounds like an Office update has become corrupted as it was downloaded. Try running Windows update again, assuming that you have configured this to check for updates in Microsoft Office as well as Windows.
Alternatively, do you have any other Office 2007 components installed e.g. Word 2007? If so, can you access that / those?
I can still access word and powerpoint, jut the excel that's not playing.
I'll have a go at running windows update again. I think it's time I got a new PC to be honest. This one must be 7 or 8 years old now and spends more time frozen than anything else.
There may be no need to go as far as that! Chances are that it may simply need a trash and rebuild. Do you still have all of the installation media for Windows and all your apps? It might also be worth investigating whether the machine's hardware can be upgraded, specifically memory. Additionally, you might fancy a bigger and faster hard disk or even a new graphics card...