Win XP - Runtime error for win explorer and IE?

I have a new Dell XPS 400 running win XP. I have set up 3 users. Every once in a while, when I try to open Win Explorer (My Computer) or IE, it shows the following message and doesn't open the apps.

"MS Visual C++ Runtime Library - Program c:\Windows/explorer.exe: This app has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way..." . After this, when I look up the Task Manager, this app takes about 20 MB. In the normal case it takes up about 5 MB.

This problem happens randomly for any user and once it happens, there is no way to get it to work. I have to power cycyle the PC.

Also this is not a system wide problem. While one user has the problem, the the other user would be OK.

Any idea what the problem is? I got the latest windows updates and am running Mcaffee antivirus running automatically doing the updates...

Would really appreciate any help. Contacting Dell didn;t help much.

Thanks

Win XP - Runtime error for win explorer and IE?microsoft vista

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Win XP - Runtime error for win explorer and IE?windows xp pro internet explorer

This is most likely a "stability" problem with XP that is inherent in the program. (Many complex programs have some instability!)

Don't feel bad, while I don't have that exact problem, I have similar problems with My XP.

Which exact problem appears depends on the Hardware, what you are running at the time, software versions, etc.

I have found no "sure" fix for the problem, and the microsoft techs are confused since it is an intermittent problem, and not repeatable on demand.

Especially since the error reports either are never generated, (no dialog box), or never match (have printed them out) exactly from time to time.

I just put up with it and hope it never interferes with something critical.