PSE 9 Trial Installation Problems

Question

I recently downloaded PSE 9 and am trying to install the trial version on my computer.  I run Windows 7 64 bit, on a Dell Studio XPS, Intel core duo P8700 @2.53 GHz, and 4 GB of RAM.  I have more than 150 GB free on my Hard Drive.
I have searched Google and the Adobe forums for a resolution to my problem, but with no luck.  The problem is as follows:
I start the downloaded installation program, and get to the screen where you either hit the "install" or "cancel" buttons.  Once I click "Install" the dialog box with the status bar comes up, however, from then on absolutely nothing happens.  The status bar does not change (even after waiting for more than an hour), the install will not cancel, and any attempt to switch windows, bring up the process dialog box, or any other action leads to a complete system crash.  The system does not blue screen, but becomes completely unresponsive.  The only way to recover, is to manually switch off the computer by holding down the power button. A manual check of the HD upon restart confirms that PSE did not install at all.
I have cleaned my temp folder, tried installation under a clean boot, uninstalled Dreamweaver, but still no luck.
Any help or insights into this issue would be greatly appreciated.  I don't want to buy the full version if I can't even get the trial version to install.  Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Bill and Steve, thank you for taking the time to help me out.  I followed both of your recommendations - ran Advanced System Care cleaning out my Junk files and defragging my hard drive, and followed all the steps on the checklist.  I also did one additional thing related to problems people have encountered with Windows Installer which I found on another forum:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21766633-Windows-7-Installer-has-stopped-working
The Elements install now starts and the status bar advances.  However, when it is approximately 98% complete, it just stops and nothing happens (I waited more than 45 minutes with no change).  I was not able to cancel the Setup, could not end the process using the Windows Task manager, and had to forcefully quit the Setup application by restarting the computer.  Thankfully, this time I was able to restart using Windows, rather than manually with the power button.  Once the system restarted, Elements had not been installed.
Edit:
OK, so I tried the installation again, but this time made the following changes first:  In the Microsoft Management Console (accessible from Task Manager -> Services Tab -> Services Button) I manually "Started" Windows Installer and Windows Modules Installer.  I also double-checked that all Anti-virus, Firewall (including Windows Firewall), and Anti-malware services were stopped.
These steps have seemed to work and PSE9 has sucessfully installed and also runs (so far)
Message was edited by: skcusesp