"This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down" - what the he

38141

Keep getting the above message from Internet explorer which forces me to close the application and re-launch. What the hell is this about, or more appropriately, what can I do about it?

Endurance Man

Install firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

ch750536

www.getfirefox.com

or

www.opera.com

definately not

www.microsoftbuggy****e.com\crashexplorer

38141

I've downloaded firefox and tried it, but the same keeps happening

Endurance Man

38141 wrote:

I've downloaded firefox and tried it, but the same keeps happening

What are you looking at when this happens .

38141

more or less the same message as IE. On IE i get
IEXPLORE executed an invalid instruction in
module FLASH9.OCX at 0167:300501ba.
Registers:
EAX=06cab074 CS=0167 EIP=300501ba EFLGS=00010246
EBX=00000000 SS=016f ESP=07bfa6b4 EBP=07bfa6e4
ECX=06c9980c DS=016f ESI=06c997cc FS=5ac7
EDX=00000003 ES=016f EDI=00000005 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
0f 77 8b 46 38 db 80 88 00 00 00 51 db 40 64 51
Stack dump:
06c997cc 07bfac28 06c886a4 41a00000 00001301 000001c4 00000001 07bfa7b4 30071607 07bfac5c 06c99814 00000004 07bfa7b4 30071af5 06c997cc 07bfac28

Endurance Man

This happens a lot when veiwing dodgy vids from spy-ware ridden sites. What are u looking at when it happens?

38141

I think it might have something to do with the ads on sites. It doesn't tend to happen with ad-free sites.

Zapho

IE might not be the cause of the crash, could be something like your shockwave/flash/java plugins as these would be the same plugins in firefox.

LIke Endurance Man said this could be caused by dodgy sites. Install a decent virus scanner and adaware or something to remove unwanted programs.

Does IE crash only when you visit a specific site? If so whats the site?

38141

It's not just any single site that it happens on. One is yahoo

Dampsquid

Reinstall your macromedia flash player

38141

i've done that already

Ruu_Old

You probably need that tool to remove flash entirely before reinstalling, its available on the Macromedia website.

38141

I think the problem may be that I don't have enough RAM to run flash 9. I've checked the min specs on the flash website and my pc doesn't have the requisite RAM.

So I've thought about downloading an earlier version of flash that might be compatible with my pc. However, can't find the flash 7 or earlier download on the site.

Ruu_Old

You really shouldn't have a problem, I have a very old PC with 384mb of RAM using Flash 9. Here is all of the older versions if you want to try any of them.

38141

well i've only got 64mb of ram

Ruu_Old

Ah really should get some more RAM if possible even to upgrade to 256, it must be struggling so.

38141

Would it be worthwhile with this machine i've got - running windows 98 on pentium pro?

Endurance Man

38141 wrote:

Would it be worthwhile with this machine i've got - running windows 98 on pentium pro?

cRUMBS, livin in the stone ages man . I wouldnt throw any money at that pc, save a wee bit of cash and build a basic celeron machine, get something for like 100-150 euro.

snappieT

If you use that flash removal tool on Macromedia's website, and don't reinstall, you'll stop getting errors, and you won't see flash adverts.

Bad side is that you won't be able to use flash at all. So no YouTube...

ch750536

good entry level pc on the dell ebay site for €200 (p4, 1gb ram etc)

38141

I used the flash removal programme on the site but still I'm getting the illegal operation box anytime I come across flash on a website

snappieT

OK, one more solution:
Get firefox, and install.

Then do a search for the firefox extension "Adblock". Download and install.

Click on the Adblock icon in firefox, and in the text box at the bottom of the new window, type

*.swf

That will stop any flash files from being downloaded, let alone opened, thus stopping the errors.

xanthor

38141 wrote:

Would it be worthwhile with this machine i've got - running windows 98 on pentium pro?

Buying a new PC would probably be the ideal. You could put money into upgrading parts, but given the age of the PC almost everything would need to be upgraded.

If hanging on to your current PC is a better option;

Suitable memory for your motherboard would be available at a very low cost if you look in the right place (say eBay for example). Even annother 128MB of Ram
would make a considerable difference. although it's not an optimal long term solution.