Explorer.exe terminated "in an unusual way"

Hello.....I run WinXP with SP1 and SP2 and all updates (that I know about since having this problem). I've been receiving the following message:
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microsoft visual c++ runtime library

Runtime error!

Program C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE

This aplication has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.
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I get this when I double-click on Internet Explorer, double-click on Control Panel, or double-click to open a folder..... However, if I right-click/Explore I can get through the directory structure.

Also, this is only happening under my User Account, not my Husband's. This leads me to believe that I have some nastiness in my files rather than having a corrupt exe.

I've run Spybot, Ad-Aware, and Avast Anti-Virus, but they have found nothing. I also always run SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard.

Does anyone know what this could be? What to do?

Thanks, Kathy

 

Hello?? Anyone there??

 

I've also just run ccleaner and Avert Stinger, neither of which turned up anything.

I ran Hijack This and found: C:\updater.exe as well as
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iRiver Updater] \Updater.exe

I know that the Iriver's Updater.exe is from my daughter's Ipod-like software. But I don't know what the one in the C directory is from.

I'm really not sure what I'm looking at, but a lot of names look familiar...some don't.

What to do next?? I'd like to get Explorer back.

 

OK, I found out on another board that the Google toolbar is the cause of the problem. Once I un-installed, everything went back to normal.

Took a while to find this out, but maybe this post will save someone else time.

 

If you would like to confirm your clean, please follow the steps below:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gif Run ALL the steps in this Sticky thread READ & RUN ME FIRST Before Asking for Support

• Make sure you check version numbers and get all updates.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gif Very Important: Make sure you tell us the results from running the tutorial...was anything found? Were you unable to complete any of the scans?...Were you unable to download any of the tools?...Did you do the on-line scans as suggested? etc.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gifAfter doing ALL of the above and you still have a problem, make sure you have booted to normal mode and run the steps in the below thread to properly use HijackThis:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gifDownloading, Installing, and Running HijackThis