Oh woe is me! This problem is just going on and on and nothing I do can solve it!
Everytime I boot up, explorer.exe has a fit and has an error, and/or I get a message popping up saying that "The instruction at "xxxxxxxxxxx" referenced memory at "xxxxxxxxx". The memory could not be "written" Click ok to terminate the program" - What program?! I cannont access ANY of my folders, but CAN sometimes click on the startbar to access some software. ANNOYING!!!!

Checked for spyware - nada
Checked for virus infection - nada
Checked for dodgy microsoft programming - probably!

Have reinstalled windows - no joy
Have SP4 installed and sp2 for ie6 (although I use firefox)

please please help!

You could start by removing any free software you might have installed. What are you using to check for spyware? This problem is probably related to spyware; there is a section here on Daniweb called "Security" where you may be able to find more help on this.

Thanks, but I seem to have got it sorted - fingers crossed! Had done a spybot and ad-aware search, as well as a norton virus check AND online check (cant remember which!), but all resulted in a blank. Was then searching explorer in search - and found 3! two were legit, in win32 and sp4 folders - fine. The third was sat in the root of D:\ - wierd. So deleted it, and all appears fine! Hope this helps anyone else who discovers this problem!

Thanks again- Hope I dont have to pop back soon all green faced!