every one is complaining about the same issue
it's not "Everyone", it's just you two guys at this time...
I cannot even see this "gathering required information" installation step so, I guess it normally happens so fast that is not even possible to see it, unless something is blocking it or making it slower, so you can see it.
I'm afraid the only thing that can stop the installer is either an antivirus or a firewall, which is blocking the 2nd step since, in order to make the installer faster for everybody, it's not splitted into a smaller file you download, which will download the rest of the installer files, which will start installing at the end of the 2nd download. Standard practice for many installers nowadays...
Are you able to describe more precisely when this "gathering required information" step happens ?