"Illegal operations"

[colandsuey]

Why do I often get the message "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down" on my PC? Is it a problem with my PC, the software or what?

[MrNutz]

There are many reasons for getting these messages. Do you always get the message when doing the same thing? I could do with some more information. Make a note of what it says when you click 'More Details'.

[marks]

The root of the problem is not the computer, but the humans that built the computer, and wrote the various pieces of software that are running on it. Getting all of these independent teams of programmers and hardware developers to produce programs that work on diverse ranges of hardware and cooperate with varying combinations of software is a difficult task. The best that Windows (and Unix) can hope to manage is to localise errors to the program that went wrong. Just be glad a program crash doesn't mean you have to restart the whole machine (as DOS, Win3.1 and MacOS usually required).

[the evil dad]

This is probably due to the charming practice wherein certain very large software producers release bugged software onto the market due to their stampede for profit. They can then rely on us, the people who use the stuff to test the programs for them for nothing and they can debug at a fraction of the price they would incur, if they played by the rules.

[Sensei]

I know it may sound strange, but alot of crashes are often caused by video drivers. Try updating all the drivers on your system, starting with the video. Also, run scandisk to make sure there are no damaged files on the HD. If there are, you may need to reinstall something. What to reinstall? Exactly! Try updates.com to check for the latest versions of software. If you have windows, use the update feature to check for upgrades. There is a program that will actually scan your entire hard drive, go to each site and tell you if you have the latest drivers for each program. Unfortunately, I forget the address. Mostly updating your software will fix those types of problems, it's just a matter of find the software and then finding the upgrade, if they even have one. The really bad side is, fixing one problem can cause another.

[PD]

In addition to the previous answers: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;
EN-US;q82710 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q150314 Cheers