Windows Vista Windows Explorer has stopped working trying to access files on a USB stick

I am being driven crazy by continual crashes of Windows Explorer. I'm running Vista Ultimate, SP 1, and the problem usually occurs when I try to access files from a 4GB USB flash drive. I'll open the drive, and be looking at the contents of the root directory, and, out of the blue, the error box will appear stating that Windows Explorer has stopped working and has to restart, of course forgetting what I was looking at. I searched the KB on Microsoft Support, and they pretend the problem doesn't exist. From what I can see, it's been bugging a lot of users for more than a year. I'd be interested in any information that might explain just why the program is crashing so often.