I am running a p3 833Mhz 256MB Compaq deskpro, which crashes when I right click. It only crashes when I right click on a folder/icon. I can use right click on a blank space on the desktop(new folder). I have two other machines of the same make, model, hardware, software, and I don't have this issue with them. All my hardware conforms to the HCL, I have all the latest services packs/patches (windows 2000). Norton antivirus is installed (latest definitions), and there seems to be no viruses. I have also checked for spyware, and have run the system file checker (sfc/scannow). I have searched on the net for this problem and most of the responses say to install the latest updates or its the blaster virus. This having already been done, what am I missing??

Try re-installing the mouse driver! its got to be worth a try! I had something like this but ended up installing over the top + sp3 It's still crap but it works, no crashes! B4 you do anything, make sure you back up your Data!

I've been having similar problems lately, and although I havn't tried this yet you might find it useful. When you right click different items the "context menu" that pops up depends upon what have been specified as "ContextMenuHandlers" in the registry. Viruses sometimes set themselves up as Context Menu Handlers, but so do Anti-virus utilities and lots of other things that you install. Any problems relating to a specific Right-click Context Menu might be caused by a virus, or something you installed and then deleted, or just a bug in someone's attempt to add an entry into one of your Context Menu's. There are a number of downloadable tools for editing these Context Menus so, after backing everything up, you could try one and see if there is a specific menu item that's causing the problem. One utility that you could try is: ContextMenuPlus.zip at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1337759,00.asp

Hadn't realised that the url I gave above isn't for freeware. Possible alternatives are: System ToolKit 2.2 from http://www.downloadsafari.com/download.asp?address=System%20ToolKit2.2 and menuedit from http://www.lightpatch.com/downloads/menuedit.zip