When I go online I get a window that says "Microsoft
Internet Explorer has encountered a promlem and needs to
shut down". When I click "close" on that window it goes to
my defaulf browser page. Also, when I try to open files on
my desktop or access "my computer", I get a black screen
for a second and then a blue screen which says : "fatal
error etc,,,,,,,," push any key to continue. When I do
that it resets my desktop and I am back to square one. I
can open items on my desktop that have not been put into a
file. Hope you can help. Alan.

First, see below for my standard blurb on Clean Boot procedures, Antivirus and related topics. A lot that won't seem immediately important but which may be, and which lay a good foundation in any case.

Set up a Clean Boot environment, then test your IE installation. Be sure to only go to a safe site, but one which is decently complex--www.microsoft.com works, or even Windows Updates. If things work OK in Clean Boot Mode, then a background app, whether "good" or malicious, is the likely cause. Clean up the garbage, then try again with normal background apps. If still a problem, then the background apps will need to be checked on a case-by-case basis to figure out which one is involved.

If it is determined that it's truly IE at fault (or even just to make sure) run MSINFO32 from the Start\Run box, click on IE Repair in the Tools menu. It will automatically restart, so be prepared--best done under Clean Boot conditions. If IE Repair doesn't work, or the problem persists, consider upgrading to latest version, or force reinstalling all components using the Add Components option in the initial dialogue for IE Repair.

To recap, you *probably* just need to clean up garbage, including usual temporary files junk, etc., and also check for malware, and *possibly* repair and/or reinstall IE.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP for Windows 9x


"Alan" <ajguinness@shaw.ca> wrote in message news:97d501c3eaaf$a8afdd60$a001280a@phx.gbl...