Hi - ever since my kids put MSN messenger on the computer (don't you love them) we haven't been able to use internet explorer. You just get a message saying it's encountered a problem and would we like to send an error message.
Also we can no longer open My Computer and My Documents. It just says this programe has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.
Any ideas please ?? We're running IE6, windows 98SE and MSN 6.2.
Thanks.

can you do a system restore?

have you tried to uninstall MSN messenger?

did you have the IE6 SP1?

maybe uninstall IE6 & then reinstall new with SP1?

just thinkin on-line ...

Thanks for advice. However as I can't open My Computer, can't get to uninstall MSN - unless there are other ways of doing it. I'm not very PC savvy as you will have guessed !

sorry merched but i am unfamiliar with 98

in 2000 or xp you can go to Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs

there are also registry fixes if you dont have Add/Remove

Hey, Welcome to D-A-L

First goto Start>Settings>Control Panel>Add / Remove Programs then select Internet Explorer and hit Add/Remove - Not when prompted choose the repair option. Post back at let us know.

hi the problem is when you click on control panel it comes up with the messge that you've performed an illegal operation. You can't actually get to any of the controls to do anything !

Hi,

OK first download and scan with HijackThis, then post your Log - See here - http://www.d-a-l.com/help/showthread.php?t=605

Merched,

If you can't get Control Panel to load, you can probably run the IE6 setup program from the Run prompt.

Click the Start Menu
Click Run
Type (including speech marks) "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\ie6setup.exe"

Then, as D-A-L says, choose the Repair option.

Let us all know how you get on

Hi and thanks v much for your perseverance ! Unfortunately I've got another error message when trying the repair suggestion. It says "Extracting file failed. It is most likely cause by low memory (low disk space for swapping file) or corrupted Cabinet file."
I know there is lots of spare memory on the disk. A friend who had the same problem has since told me he ended up buying a new computer with Windows XP as MSN causes frequent crashes on 98. He also thought it might be a virus which was stopping me accessing control panel, documents etc. Does that make any sense ?
Thanks again.