when the installer is working, it sometimes gives users little notification
that it is actually working and did not freeze.

eg. while fdisking, formating, or running "post install" steps.

proposed solution.
if a progress meter is not possible, place a spinning logo (ie. IE's
spinning glob, netscape's comets throbber) to let the user know when work
is being done.  Some notification should be done ANY time the installer is
not waiting for user input, as the installer may crash at ANY time during
the install.