Hi all, I'm new here, but I love all the info offered here..
Anyway, it doesn't happen all the time but often enough to make me crazy! I turn on puter and it runs until right B4 the desktop normally appears. Then it says: Explorer has caused and error in KERNEL32.DLL explorer will now close...then it makes me shut down and start from the beginning. I have to keep trying over and over til the desktop appears.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for your help!

Martin,
I might be able to help you here.
First of all, do you have any P2P programs like Kazaa or other music download programs? Do you remember what you were doing last before this problem started? People have different opinions about why this error occurs. Are you running Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.0? To know for sure, click Help at the top of this page. At the bottom, About Internet Explorer. It will say what version you are running.

To solve this problem without waiting, think back to when this first started. Go into Safe Mode and use System Restore. Pick a date JUST BEFORE the error began. For example, let's say you noticed this problem on August 15th, 2004. You could select a restore date of August 13th, 2004. This is just an example, though.
To go into Safe Mode, you would shut down the computer. Then, while pressing and holding the F8 key on the keyboard, boot up the computer. You will select option 3 for Safe Mode. To get to System Restore, click on Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and probably the last item is System Restore. Do not confuse System Restore with recovery or restore disks.
You must use System Restore in Safe Mode ONLY for it to work. Then, reboot (it will automatically reboot in regular mode), and see how things are running.
Let me know.
~67~

[SIZE=7]I have NO idea what was going on, or when this happened. It's been a problem for a long time, but I just found a place to ask about it. It does seem to occurring more and more frequently tho. I am also very new to computers other than email.

Should I still do that restore thing?

System Restore, would be the first thing I'd try.

Martin,
If you are totally not sure when the problem began, just pick a date following the instructions I've given. If the next couple of reboots are fine, then you selected a good date to go back to. If not, follow the same instructions picking an earlier date than the one you picked the first time.
Please be aware that using System Restore will do just that. It will restore your computer system back to the date you select. You will have lost anything you've downloaded since the date you select. So, if there are important programs you want to keep, like ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, etc... you can either re-download them or save them to a CD disk IF you have a CD burning program in your computer.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them. That's why we are here. And we are very happy to help.

~67~

P.S. The reason I asked before about P2P programs like Kazaa and other music downloading programs, is because you can easily get viruses and adware and yucky stuff through them. AIM (the AOL instant messenger) also has its baddies. And some people believe that WinME can conflict with Internet Explorer 5.5 and many have a hard time getting 6.0. I don't want to confuse you by any means, I'm just trying to be as informative and helpful as possible. The main thing is that the problem is occuring and System Restore is the cure. Knowing WHY the problem began can oftentimes help prevent it from happening again.

Thanks everyone for all your help! I will try it and see how it goes......no PSP stuff, but I do have AIM

Later