can't access IE any more

The only reason I care, really, is for the Windows updates - the rest of the time I use Firefox (and am I'm really happy with it, btw).
Any time I try to open Windows update or IE, 've started getting the following message:

Iexplore has caused an error in SHELL32.DLL
Iexplore will now close.
[If you continue to experience problems, try restarting your computer -- or something to that effect]

I don't know exactly when the problem started, because I haven't tried using IE in probably a month. I recently installed AVG 7 (free), and updated my free ZA firewall; I may have installed the latest version of AdAware in the past month, too. Everything else on my system works fine. I looked at Microsoft's support site for possible solutions, but the only similar error I find help for is one that says Iexplore has caused an invalid page fault in SHELL32.DLL, and that's not what I've got.

I'm running WinME, IE 5.5. Never was able to update/upgrade to IE6 because of some glitch in my system (the installation of that particular critical update always caused my computer to freeze up, and resulted up in my having to reinstall Windows from scratch three times - I quit trying after that). I was, however, able to install non-critical updates from the site in the past. In ZA, IE has green check marks in the access column, for whatever that's worth.

Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Rebecca

 

Have you tried a repair of IE? Control panel => add/remove programs => IE and it should be one of your options.

 

Never knew that option even existed, so thank you for that! Unfortunately, the repair option didn't solve my particular problem.
Should I try uninstalling IE, and then download/install it again from the internet? I kind of figure I have nothing to lose by trying that, since I can't use the program as it is anyway.
Thanks,
Rebecca

 

Re:

If the repair process doesnt work the other option is to revert back to your older instalation which is IE5 but you have to reinstall all updates from windows update but its worth it when its back to working again.

 

There is no older installation of IE on this computer: 5.5 is what it came with, although I did download a few updates other than that critical one (the one which would've upgraded me to IE6). When you suggest reverting back to my original installation, is that what you mean -- IE 5.5 without the updates?
In any case, when I went to add/remove programs, clicked on Microsoft Internet Explorer, and checked the third option there ( "Restore the previous Windows configuration "), I got a message saying something to the effect of "are you sure you want to completely uninstall IE?" I didn't take it any further than that, because that one sounds to me like it's going to totally uninstall IE -- and I want to make sure I've exhausted my other possible fix options before I do that.
Say I go ahead and actually uninstall, given my history of never having been able to install the IE6 critical update on this computer, can you speculate on my chances of downloading and successfully installing IE6 from the internet?
Thanks for the help,
Rebecca

 

I still haven't been able to come up with a successful way to get IE back up and running on this computer, so I think I'll go ahead and try uninstalling it and then downloading it from the internet.
I've got something running on my computer now that tracks attempted changes to the registry (Spybot/Teatimer maybe?) -- can someone tell me if I'll need to allow changes to the registry when I reinstall IE? I only plan to use it for Windows updates, so no reason to have it launch on its own or anything.
Thanks,
Rebecca

 

Absolutely yes.

I think your decision to remove and reinstall is a good one but maybe since you are starting from nothing, IE6 would be a good idea?

I strongly suggest a good cleaning of the PC before you start any of this.
- delete all cookies and temporary internet files
- delete the contents of all Temp folders on your PC
- scandisk and defrag.

Sorry I can't give you specifics but I avoid ME like the plague and just don't remember enough about it from the couple of weeks I ran it several years ago.

 

Thanks for the reply and suggestions, Newt.
If I do actually go through with a re-installation, I think I *will* try for IE6 - I'm just having second thoughts about bothering with IE at all, given that everything else on my computer is running fine right now. It would be just my luck that in trying to rectify this one thing, I'd end up screwing up everything else. I still haven't tried running IE from safe mode, which is something I should probably give a try, assuming if I can ever figure out how to get into safe mode on this computer...
In any case, I'm going to go ahead and do the PC cleaning you recommended, so that at least SOMETHING useful will have come out of this inquiry!
Rebecca

 

Some follow-up for anyone who might have had a similar problem. I finally managed to access "safe mode" on my computer, and tried clicking on IE there. The IE screen opened up fine (no more shell32.dll error message), so I thought I'd try running Windows Update while I was there (in safe mode). Except then I got a message about my modem being out of service or not plugged in...
Made some notes on THAT error to see how I might be able to fix THAT, but lo and behold, when I rebooted into Windows ME, I got a popup screen asking if I'd allow a particular registry change (did I write down what it was? no, of course not - didn't think of that till afterwards!) - and IE has been working again ever since.
Go figure (but I'm not looking THIS gift horse in the mouth)!?!
Rebecca