Excel launch error - 800700c1 is not a valid Win32 application

The execution of the "Launch Excel" action fails with an error message like the following:

Inner Exception:Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {00024500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 800700c1 is not a valid Win32 application. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800700C1).

Details: System.BadImageFormatException: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {00024500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 800700c1 is not a valid Win32 application. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800700C1).

at System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingServices.AllocateUninitializedObject(RuntimeType objectType)

at System.Runtime.Remoting.Activation.ActivationServices.CreateInstance(RuntimeType serverType)

at System.Runtime.Remoting.Activation.ActivationServices.IsCurrentContextOK(RuntimeType serverType, Object[] props, Boolean bNewObj)

at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)

at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)

at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)

at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type)

at WinAutomation.Actions.Runtime.ExcelActions.LaunchExcel(Variant documentPath, Variant varPassword, Variant& excelInstance, Int32 launchMode, Boolean visible, Boolean loadAddInsAndMacros, Boolean needsAuthentication, Int32 passwordInsertionMode, String password, Boolean readOnly).

The solution is presented on the following StackOverflow question:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50970449/error-800700c1-in-instantiating-an-object-for-microsoft-office-interop-excel-a

Deleting the file "C:\Program" fixes the issue.