I kept getting the configuration wizard every time I wanted to run
office in XP. I just spent three hours on the phone with Microsoft
Tech Support. They finally figured out that my Norton Antivirus was
interfering with the process. They had me type in "msconfig" at the
startrun box, and chose "selective startup" to disable third party
drivers. After authenticating the Office Program, I went back to the
"normal startup" and everything was fine.

-Erik