When I start my computer, right before the "welcome" page comes up, a
small ERROR WINDOW Appears saying, "The Application failed to initialize properly (0x0000005), click on OK to terminate the application."
This has never happen before. When I click the OK button the screen remains blank, nothing happens. Now the only way I can get my PC to start up is by hitting f8, safemode & then Last known good configuaration, so my desktop will load. What is going on???
*the computer had been turned off the night before...had no known problems before this AM.

What application is listed in the title of that error window?

On further reflection I would guess that the application is explorer.exe

This would be your GUI or Graphical User Interface i.e. Windows.

If this is the case the first thing that I would try is to run sfc /scannow

Go to start/run/ & type in: sfc /scannow (note the space after sfc).

You will need your XP CD to do this. It will check for & replace needed system files (which would include explorer.exe).