In the past couple of days, I've been getting this error message when trying to play any game in Pogo: "Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library Runtime Error! Program: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe abnormal program termination." I click the OK button and IE closes completely. When I click on the Quick Launch icon for IE, it will open back up and I'll still be logged into Pogo. My wife, who has a LOT more patience for this sort of thing, researched many pages of Runtime Errors, and couldn't find anything that totally fit my problem. Advice given in many sites was to run Ad-Aware, Spybot, virus scan and HijackThis. The people reporting the problem said that when they ran these programs, their problem was fixed due to ad- and spy ware. Mine was not. I did not have anything of the sort on my computer. Other people said it was due to an Asus program, but I don't have that program on my computer. Someone said theirs was caused due to MSN Messenger Plus, which I also do not have. My wife had tried to completely uninstall IE (6.0, by the way) and reinstall it. As I had tried to get into a Pogo game again so she could get the exact wording of the error, and because IE just closes out, I had not logged out of Pogo. When she reinstalled IE - same version - not only was I still logged into Pogo, but all my bookmarks were still there - so obviously IE did not uninstall nor delete completely. She tried removing it through the Add/Remove Windows Components (IE is not listed in Add/Remove Programs) and reinstalling it by downloading the Setup program, but that didn't work either. I was still logged into Pogo (I didn't log out on purpose because this would have been proof on whether or not it truly uninstalled). Most likely causes as to why people might get this error is downloading programs that might affect it (I haven't downloaded anything for quite some time), ad- and spyware (which my computer is totally clean), although I did have a few Trojan's that my wife found (all hiding in my System Restore) which she fixed and haven't shown up since. I also can't do a System Restore. Whenever I try to, it goes through the motions, my computer even reboots after "performing" the restore, but once it reboots I get an error message saying that it was unable to restore to that point. I've tried a few different restore points and none will take. I can't think of anything else that you might need to know. My wife highly suggested that I ask here as she is a member (Teesa) and has always said this is a wonderful site and people here are very helpful. Does anyone here know what my problem is and/or how to fix it? Or how to get rid of IE completely so that a reinstall is totally brand new and I can start from scratch? She warned me that the first suggestion I get will probably be to just stop using IE and switch to Netscape or Firefox. I've tried both and I don't like them at all. I guess I'm old school when it comes to IE, but I'm used to it and I do like it. Any advice is greatly welcomed. Thanks in advance.

I forgot to mention 2 things: 1. other advice was to disable script debugging in IE. I've done that (and rebooted my computer to ensure it took) and it did not stop the errors. I've tried enabling it again but that also didn't work. 2. my wife uses IE 6.0 as well and has no problems what-so-ever with IE nor has she ever gotten the Runtime Error. She had compared our files in our IE folder and she had many more than I did. She sent them to me to see if that was what my problem was, but it didn't fix anything.

Do you use Google Toolbar? If so you're not the only one..other Dell users reported it too. Read this thread. i_XpUser

Hi XPUser. Ok, I guess that was #3 that I forgot to mention. No, I don't use the Google Toolbar, nor any other type. I made the mistake of installing it once several months ago, and my wife yelled at me but good for it, lol. She warned me quite pointedly that I should never use any type of Toolbar. She's beginning to think that the error doesn't actually have anything to do with IE, and is pouring over everything that's been changed, accessed, and/or added on my computer to see if there's anything unusual. She told me to mention that some people got an option to debug when the Runtime Error popped up, but I did not. She's thinking maybe it's something to do with Sun Java? It's up-to-date, there's no errors there that we know of, it's just a thought she's following. The reason she thinks it has no actual connection to IE is because disabling the script errors had no effect, I still get the Runtime Error whether script error option is checked or not. Teesa's also wondering if maybe the Trojan's I had a few days ago might have something to do with this, changed or altered a file it shouldn't have, or that maybe she didn't get rid of it completely. She always goes to Symantic to make sure whatever it is is completely removed. She's now pouring over AVG logs to find out what they were as she's already emptied the Virus Vault. I'm glad I married a Virgo... she's nothing if not thorough!! She's been at this for 3 days now, and swears she won't rest till she figures it out. She's a bit obsessive that way, a problem she can't fix or figure out right away just p*sses her off and she gets determined to resolve it. I personally think she's just got to have the last word no matter what, lmao.

Quote: "I personally think she's just got to have the last word no matter what, lmao." VERY FUNNY *babe* I always DO have the last word, lmao. ;) Just wanted to add that I've gone through all the AVG logs I could find and none specify the name of the Trojan's my husband had, just the amount of them. I don't recall the names, just that at least a couple of them were backdoors. When I ran Spybot and it was searching through the System Restore files, that's when AVG popped up and said there was a Trojan. I had originally saved them all the the Virus Vault, but just deleted them all out of there yesterday. I just don't understand his puter, he has all the same prog's I do [Spybot, Ad-Aware, Hijack, etc] and I have them set up the same as mine, yet I end up cleaning and fixing his puter like every other day but I get something MAYBE once or twice a year. His Spybot is blocking over 13 000 objects, whereas mine is only blocking just over 7 000. It's not that he's puter stupid or anything, nor does he "hang out" in questionable sites. Being the one to fix his puter, I see his cookies and Internet Temp files, so I know ;) I've been trying to keep track of the sites he does go to, to see if there's a pattern. But, of course, NOW is when he finally remembers to delete his caches and such! lol. And I'm not relishing visiting EVERY site in his bookmarks and running Spybot and AVG after each one :| But I will if I have to!

Ok, I have an update. In Pogo, if you're using Microsoft's JVM, you have the option of downloading applets which will make Pogo's games load and run quicker. My husband doesn't have Microsoft's JVM on his puter at all. He uses Sun Java which doesn't give you an option of downloading anything, it just does it. I disabled his option to download the applets and he can get into the games. I disassociated Sun Java from IE and could still get into the games. I re-enabled the applets and no more games. Anyone have an explanation for this? Applets are only associated with Microsoft's JVM. It makes no sense to me.