TomTomSF & boo,

When I had this problem I found the solution (as always) at experts-exchange. The topic that specifically helped me is here:
http://www-level3.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Win98/Q_20769448.html

Try searching for the error messages reported in your specific case and you may well find a solution here (if you're not a member you can just paste the error message along with the words "experts exchange" into Google and it will return links to the experts-exchange pages containing the actual discussions)

As a general rule, if one program starts behaving strangely then it's usually enough to reinstall that program. If a number of applications start exhibiting weird behaviour then it's most likely that there's a problem with windows' internal communication. Typically this will be have been caused by corruption or deletion of certain system files and/or registry entries.

Most applications make the necessary adjustments to system files and registry entries when you run their installation or updater programs while Spyware apps like AdAware & SpyBot remove registry enries and other files from various different sources in bulk. It is not uncommon to encounter problems after running any of the above.

Most of the latest SpyWare killers place identified components in a quarantine area so that, if you encounter problems after running the SpyWare killer you can re-install the components which were removed. This has helped me out a couple of times in the past (I use Ad Aware Plus 6.0).

Chris

[This message has been edited by Chris A (edited 11-14-2003).]