Illegal Op

I have Win 98, IE6 SP1
I've scanned for spyware and viruses..... "clean "
When I click on a desktop icon for a shortcut to a computer game, or a program I get an error message:

"This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down ".
Details: "Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL 32.DLL at 0167:bff7b9f5 plus a whole bunch of gobbledegock, which I didn't copy down.
This brings me back to Desktop.

Also, sometimes I get the BSOD, and all I can do is CTRL-ALT-DEL and restart.

Since I don't have any malware and I don't have any viruses, how can I determine the various conflicts between programs that may be the cause of my problems? Incidentally, I also did a "repair" of IE via the ADD/REMOVE programs in Control Panel.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

An illegal operation is caused by one program trying to write into memory already occupied by another program. Try to find out what is not easy. If you have TweakUI installed, you can have it create a Faultlog.Txt file, which captures better info than what appears on the screen. You would find this option under the Paranoia tab.

 

Thank U 4 the info....will do.

 

Explorer in the error message refers to Windows Explorer, not Internet Explorer.

"Explorer" and Kernel32.dll are both major heavyweights in the running of Windows.

Do a Scandisk (best run in Safe Mode). Set it to "Automatically fix errors" and Thorough, which may take a few hours.
Empty the Windows\Temp folder and delete the folders under Windows\Temporary Internet Files\IE5 (you can safely delete Desktop.ini files if you get a warning).

Do any further clean up (Add/Remove Programs, cookies, etc) and Defragment if there seems to be an improvement.

Matt

 

Do a Scandisk (best run in Safe Mode). Set it to "Automatically fix errors" and Thorough, which may take a few hours. I ran ScanDisk in safe mode as U suggested.
Empty the Windows\Temp folder I emptied folder as U suggestedand delete the folders under Windows\Temporary Internet Files\IE5 (you can safely delete Desktop.ini files if you get a warning).Alo did this

Do any further clean up (Add/Remove Programs, cookies, etc) and Defragment if there seems to be an improvement.

Having done most of this prior to your suggestions, I can say that I haven't had a problem since I posted this "plea for help ".

 

If things seem to keep going OK, run Scandisk again in the next few days, this time in normal Windows and set to File System checking only. Look closely at the results table for any information about bad sectors. If it reports any bad sectors, start keeping your data backed up and run Scandisk (thorough) regularly. If you start getting further bad sectors (or blue screens due to bad sectors) you may need to change harddrives.

Let's hope it was a one-off glitch.

Matt