'Puter help

[ValleyOne]

Please help me... My puter is trying to commit suicide. I have WinXP, explorer 7 and I keep getting this damn msg every 8 seconds, which is impairing my usage/fun/work!!

I am bombarded with a pop up window error message. that says;

Micrsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library

Buffer overun detected!

Program: C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe

A buffer overrun has been detected which has currupted the program's
internal state. This program cannot safely continue execution and must be now terminated.

So, what is it? What did I do? and how do I fix/kill it?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

PS, I run AVG 7.5 and adaware DAILY

[N. A. Corbier]

... this would explain why no reply.

I don't think its a virus, off the top of my head. Since its' taking explorer.exe (The taskbar and a bunch of other stuff) with it, it must be real fun to lose and possibly not get back your explorer.

First question: Do you have your copy of Windows XP? If worst comes to worst, you may need to reinstall Windows on top of itself, to repair the old version.

Second Question: How long has this been going on, and what have you done wit h the PC lately?

Third Question: Have you tried "rolling back" using System Restore to a point where it wasn't doing this?

Basically, a program is overflowing a buffer in explorer.exe, which makes it crash. Writing too much data to a buffer that can only hold so much.

On second thought, this may not be so much as a virus, as an attack by a "cracker," but I'm not sure about that. Buffer overruns can be used to get at the stack and make the PC run small programs at the level that explorer runs (System Root.)

[LPGuy]

Nothing against everyone here, but if you would like help from some tech experts, go to http://www.techguy.org and register a free account on there so you can post your question to the Windows NT/2000/XP forum.

I've found a lot of knowledgeable computer types on that forum who've quickly helped me with pretty much all of my computer questions. They are especially helpful with any types of virus/malware problems.

[hrdickinson]

Have you installed Service Pack 2?

[3rd_shift]

I found something.
Perhaps this will help.

Hotbar for Hotmail sometimes does this