error messages in windows 98 SE

Does anyone have this problem? When I try to shut my computer down by clicking on the start button and then the shutdown button in the window that comes up after that, I get an error message:
A fatal exception OE has occurred at 017F:BFF9DFFF. The current application will be terminated. Press any key to terminate the current application. Press Ctrl&Alt&Del again to restart your computer. You will lose all unsaved information in all applications. Press any key to continue.
After a few minutes of pressing all the keys that are suggested to press, all the while nothing happens, my computer just freezes up and it just won't shut down or do anything. So, I manually shut it down to reboot. I know this is not the thing to do , but it seems to be the only alternative to wacking my computer out of frustration. Can anyone help me with this very irritating problem? Sometimes I also get a "MMtask general fault error message" and also a "MMSystem.dll 0004:00000506 error message" from time to time. Any help with these problems would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance. pzneedshelp
PS. I have windows 98SE, use Zone Alarm firewall, Spysweeper, AVG anti-virus, Ad-Aware SE, Spybot Search and Destroy, Spyware Blaster. Also have all the updates that Microsoft offers.

 

If the patch does not fix the problem ( it did not for me ) try shutting down things that are running before you try to shut down.

In my case it was the improperly set up Firewall that was causing the problem. ( Kerio at the time )

BillyBob