SVCHOST.EXE C++ Runtime errors

Hi,

I've got the most annoying error on my brand new Dell runing Xp Pro SP1. Last week I lost alll the Icons from my desktop but have been able to restore my desktop by interrupting the boot and choosing the last known good profile.
Since then the problem has been getting the following C++ run time error any time I do anything Net related.

Application popup: Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library : Runtime Error!

Program: C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe


This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.


I don't know what is causing this. If you click OK or close the window it will keep on popping up. If you ignore it you can generally get on with what you're doing. I've got McAffee security centre running and up to date and nothing is showing as an error when I scan.

Any ideas how to stop this?

Thanks