ITunes won't install because an older version of iTunes cannot be removed

Question

I'm running on Windows XP.
I had tried to update my iTunes a few days ago and it was failing because it complained about iTunes.msi. I tried to uninstall and it had the same complain. So I manually removed it and started to remove all references to apple and iTunes in my registry. After that, it no longer showed up in my add/remove applications but if I try to install iTunes (latest or an older version), it complains that it can't install because it can't remove an older version of iTunes.
I downloaded Windows Install Clean Up, but it doesn't list iTunes in there or anything that looks like it might be it. I've tried a number of registry cleaners but still no luck. Any ideas? It's obviously finding some information about my old iTunes install in there somewhere, but it can't figure out how to remove it. I wish it had some kind of debugging mode where it would tell me why it thinks I have iTunes installed still.
Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Ace ... I try not to post links to alternate locations for CleanUp downloads, because that tends to lead to the download location being shut down. (Happened twice for me the day after it was removed from the Microsoft Downloads Center.)
Assuming you've got trouble with an iTunes .msi file, here's a copy of my now-standard spiel on hunting down, installing and using CleanUp:
These sorts of msi-related troubles have gotten more complicated to deal with ever since Microsoft pulled the Windows Installer CleanUp utility from their Download Center on June 25.
Let's try Googling. (Best not to use Bing, I think.) Look for a working download site for at least version 3.0 of the Windows Installer CleanUp utility. After downloading the utility installer file (msicuu2.exe), scan the file for malware, just in case. (I use the free version of Malwarebytes AntiMalware to do single-file scans for that.)
If the file is clean, to install the utility, doubleclick the msicuu2.exe file you've downloaded.
Now run the utility ("Start > All Programs > Windows Install Clean Up"). In the list of programs that appears in CleanUp, select any iTunes entries and click "Remove".
Quit out of CleanUp, restart the PC and try installing iTunes 9.2 again. Does the install go through properly this time?
(If you do find a clean download site for the correct version of CleanUp, please don't tell me where it is. Without wishing to sound paranoid (although I grant it does sound paranoid), there is a non-zero chance that posting links to download locations for the utility here at Discussions leads to that download location being shut down.)