constant crash of IE 6.0 in XP

It originally started with internet explorer 6.0 crashing frequently, actually everytime I started it up. I tried a variety of things, ranging from trying to reinstall Iexplorer from my harddrive (which I had dl'd at a different time), and reinstalling windows xp over itself. nothing worked. when I try to install it from the hd it informs me that there is a newer version of ie on my computer, cause it was installed from the xp cd. and there is no repair option in the add/remove program, 'cause internet explorer is not listed.

I managed to dl netscape, the latest version being 6.2.1. now a variety of programs are crashing on me, as soon as I open them. Norton antivirus' full scan, morpheus, cause its built around ie I understand that one. Microsoft Outlook, and Outlook express. thus far, thats all I've found.

It seems whenever iexplorer is closed or crashes, in the windows task manager, ctfmon.exe hangs, and remains there. If I end the task manually, and start up iexplorer it seems to allow me to browse around, but only for an estimated 5 minutes, then it crashes and ctfmon still hangs.

Thanks in advanced
tim

 

... check out this thread and the TechNet link...

 

OK, this is fun

ok this is fun. I followed the other link, and did as it said, 'cept my registry was slightly different. instead of having a key, it had mulitiple folders and almost each of them had the same key I was suppose to look for, so I changed all of 'em to 0 from 1. I reinstalled internet explorer from there, and I still have the same problem. not to mention, I got messages telling me that certain programs where removed even after I restored my registry from the backup I made. AAAAHHHH!!!!!

 

With all that's been done, I'd stop here and run scf /scannow or attempt another repair. At least you'd have a (reliable?) reference point.

 

I wish I were blonde, so I could blame it on that

what is scf, and scannow? Are they thirdparty software, or are you refering to the standard scandisk that is equipped in windows?

 

SFC is the System File Checker. It scans and verifies the versions of all protected system files after you restart your computer. Click Start > Help and Support. In the Search box, type in sfc for more information.

 

at my wits end

Sfc did not work, I ran the the command 'sfc /scannow', and there seemed to be a windows program that took over from there, asked me to put in my windows xp cd, and then at the end of teh scan, it displayed nothing, which I assumed is the normal responce. I rebooted, and everything still crashes as normal