plugin failed to initialise

A member of our local computer club has presented a problem for solution. I don't have an answer. He gets the following: 'error. plugin failed to initialise' when downloading our club bulletin from a link in outlook express, when trying to download 'Adobe Acrobat Reader', or updated Explorer versions, or when trying to increase from 40 bit to 128 bit encryption. I'm sorry, I don't have any info at present regarding his OS. If this is critical, I'll add it later. Can anyone help please?

 

Further to the query - the person concerened is running Windows 98, Internet Explorer & Outlook Express 5, & is using 40 bit encription. One of the errors happens when he tries to upgrade to 128 bit encription.

 

First, thinking this sounds a lot like a problem created by spyware, has he downloaded, installed and run Spybot and/or AdAware to clean up possible spyware?

If that doesn't fix things, any chance he'd be willing to upgrade to IE to either 5.5 or 6?

 

Thanks miz - I'm going to install IExlore v6+, also AdAware & Spybot for him next week. I had considered spyware or a trojan as a possibility, but wanted to firstly scout out any other possibilities.

 

IE6+ installed, also ad-aware & spybot. Voila! problem solved. Thanks for your prompt & knowledgeable assistance. We both really appreciate it