Shell32.DLL error in Windows XP

Yesterday, I came across a PC at work that had a faulting application error related to shell32.dll. This happened while the person was using the Windows XP Search Companion to search for a file. About half way through the search, the following error appeared:

Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2900.3156, faulting module shell32.dll, version 6.0.2900.3241, fault address 0x00103537.

I've looked through some Google searches and really can not find an answer to my problem so I guess its time to reimage the PC. The PC has only been running for about 3 weeks anyway but just not sure what caused this problem.

I've tried all of the so called "Registry fix" programs out there including Regcure but nothing worked. I am assuming something got corrupt and sometimes reimaging a PC is much quicker than attempting to pull out our hair trying to solve an issue that seems to be unsolvable. I've even tested for possible spyware. I've also tried upgrading the PC to Windows XP SP3 but the error still appears while searching.

If anyone has an answer....please comment below.

Free Image Editor for Windows Vista

Many Windows users complain that unlike its Linux and Mac competitors, Vista doesn't have a very good "out of the box" image editor. Paint has been around for many years, with only small improvements. Windows Photo Gallery lets you do some basic image editing (adjusting brightness and color saturation, cropping, etc.) but it's pretty limited. Neither supports layers, lets you sharpen photos or contains much in the way of special effects. Sure, you can get PhotoShop or Paint Shop Pro but that will cost you from one to several hundred dollars. If you need more than you get with the built-in tools but not the complexity and sophistication of the expensive commercial ones, check out getPaint.net, a free image editor that works great on Vista.

You can read about it here: http://www.getpaint.net/index.html

Symantec Endpoint causes BSOD in XP/Vista

Apparently, the new Symantec product called Symantec Endpoint Protection may cause Blue screen errors in both Windows XP and Vista. Our Windows department at work recently begin upgrading individual workstations to this new version and Blue screen errors began almost immediately. Here is an example of the error message some of our PCs are getting:

Faulting application Smc.exe, version 11.x.x.x time stamp XXXXXX, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 6.0.6000.16386, timestamp XXXXXXX, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x00061635, process id 0x694, application start time XXXXXXXXX

Basically, the solution is to turn off some of the protection included in the software package....if you ask me, what's the point? If its going to cause errors, why even release the software.

Just another case of a vendor not testing software 100% before releasing it. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of PC security, but if a product does not do what it should, don't release it until fully tested.

Symantec support is available here