IE crashes when run

[RStriker69]

Running under Xp, I've recently noticed that IE crashes whenever it attempts to do anything. I have the homepage set to about:blank, and it runs fine, but if I attempt to go to a web page, or access any options it crashes with something along the lines of "This program has performed an illegal operation and must be closed". I don't have access to the machine at the moment for the exact error.

Incidentally, if I set the homepage to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ it won't crash, it just stays at a blank white screen, until I try to load another page, or the options menu, at which point it crashes.

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Your PC might have been hijacked.
Go to this post here first, and follow the instructions EXACTLY.
How to remove Begin2Search/Coolwebsearch and Other Nasties
Then see How to post your Hijackthis log-files.

Also, try NOT to use IE, but go to www.getfirefox.com and install Firefox.
Use IE strictly for Windows-updates.
Within IE, ActiveX has probably been deactivated (for security reasons within SP2), which might cause your problems. Also, if you have another firewall, make sure to switch of the XP-internal one.