For a detailed technical description take a look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_overflow
Sounds as if one one more of your system / application files is behaving erratically maybe as as a result of memory conflicts/data corruption or badly written program code. Does the problem only occur when running a specific program? If so try uninstalling / reinstall that particular program.
You could also perform a system Hard Disk check to try and eliminate any potential disk file index errors.
- Windows Start>All Programs>Accessories
- Right Click on 'Command Prompt'
- Select 'Run as Administrator'
- In the 'black box' 'Command Prompt' window that opens up, type the text
CHKDSK /F and then press the enter/return key on the keyboard
- Answer Y to the question that will appear, i.e. press the Y key on keyboard follow by press enter/return key
- Restart your system
- As the system starts up it will automatically perform a check of your Disk system and attempt a repair of any potential errors it finds
- Let the process run / finish and the system will then start up as normal