Trouble receiving E-mail in Outlook 2002

Hello. Just recently I've had a problem where in Outlook 2002 I can't receive e-mail. What happens is that when I press the send/receive button, it connects to my POP3 server and starts to receive message # of #, but when it goes to receive the messages it freezes up and then says "Microsoft Outlook has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

The error signature looked like this:
AppName: outlook.exe AppVer: 10.0.6626.0 ModName: kernel32.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 0001861d

Here are the properties of my computer system:

Microsoft Windows XP (Home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 2, Pre-Installed - came with no install cd when PC was purchased)
Intel Celeron CPU 1.80GHz
512 MB of RAM

I have installed all the latest Office XP/Windows XP updates via Microsoft Update, ran Microsoft Windows Defender as well as eTrust PestPatrol, ran AVG Anti-Virus, ran PC OnPoint and PC PitStop Optimize (thinking it was a registry problem) and nothing has come up. I've also tried using the repair option from the Office XP CD and that didn't help either.

I tried archiving my email messages to maybe preserve space and even defragmented my hard drive but nothing's changed. I had a hunch and tried downloading email into a new profile through Outlook Express 6. Unfortunately enough, I got a similar message when I tried to perform the same action of receivng e-mail there:

Error Signature:
AppName: msimn.exe AppVer: 6.0.2900.2180 ModName: kernel32.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 0001861d

I also ran across some additional info that might help assess my e-mail problem. I think it might be more than just an Outlook 2002 problem. I went to go open an HTML based e-mail in my webmail via the Internet Explorer 6 browser. It then froze up and gave me an error message just like Outlook 2002 & Outlook Express did when I tried to receive e-mail:

"Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. "

Error Signature:
AppName: iexplore.exe AppVer: 6.0.2900.2180 ModName: kernel32.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 0001861d

I don't have any other problems using Internet Explorer; it's just when I go to open HTML e-mail (my webmail is capable of viewing HTML e-mails). I looked at all the error signatures and they all look the same except the application name that caused the error. Maybe this might mean something?

If anyone can help out in anyway, it would greatly be appreciated. Thank you all for your time and have a great day.

 

Arie,

Thank you for your reply. I have posted my computer's HijackThis log at the following thread as you advised:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=52150