PC Techs.... I need some help DESPERATELY!

[Yes We Did]

Okay, I have gone through a complete system reinstall... that took around 18 hours to fully complete. I completely wiped my hard drive clean, installed avast and adaware. My system is completely free of virus and worms and trojans.

So... here is my problem.

When I start up my computer (Toshiba Satellite 6 months old) The first thing that happens is I get a message saying that the Windows Defender interface has stopped working and has to close down.

I also cannot open up any images by double clicking them or access the System Folder or Performance Information areas in the control panel without explorer restarting. And of course, that means I cannot access them.

Now, it was working fine, so I set a system restore point and everything worked perfectly. So, I installed one other program (that was previously working perfect) and that's when the problems began this time. So, I did a system restore to before I did the installation, and it removed it. However, the program that I installed prior to that, which worked before, now doesn't work either.

This whole scenario has played out three times now. And of course, my toshiba flash cards don't work either.

So... since I'm worm/virus free, I am wondering if this has to be a hardware issue. Do you know of any EASY TO USE free programs I can use to check what is going on?

I'm not very good with the technical aspects of computers, so I need something that will just scan my system and tell me where the erros is. The toshiba people have been no help. They just told me to do a system restore.... At least i think that's what she said... She's somewhere in India I think.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the error reports

Flash Cards:

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: TCrdMain.exe
Application Version: 2.0.0.6
Application Timestamp: 47958c48
Fault Module Name: gdiplus.dll
Fault Module Version: 5.2.6001.18065
Fault Module Timestamp: 48180344
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0002c45b
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 8654
Additional Information 2: b7ad9fe7b1c10342b4a0169e35a18b02
Additional Information 3: 3d30
Additional Information 4: 7b2d29fd4257fb5fa0455d8525790e51

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 1025272779


Defender:

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: MSASCui.exe
Application Version: 1.1.1600.0
Application Timestamp: 47918de2
Fault Module Name: gdiplus.dll
Fault Module Version: 5.2.6001.18065
Fault Module Timestamp: 48180344
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0002c45b
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: fd00
Additional Information 2: ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
Additional Information 3: fd00
Additional Information 4: ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 921729680


Explorer:

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Explorer.EXE
Application Version: 6.0.6001.18164
Application Timestamp: 4907e242
Fault Module Name: gdiplus.dll
Fault Module Version: 5.2.6001.18065
Fault Module Timestamp: 48180344
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0002c45b
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: fd00
Additional Information 2: ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160
Additional Information 3: fd00
Additional Information 4: ea6f5fe8924aaa756324d57f87834160

[City of Mills]

1. Here's something I found

http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2605

Have you installed any fonts?

Assuming you have or maybe one of the programs you use has, go to your fonts folder, typically

c:\windows\fonts

and sort them by the "Modified" column...chances are the culprit may be one of the fonts with a more recent date. Pull most of the newer ones out and put them in another folder like c:\font_backup or your desktop, you may have to test the system for stability. If that fixes it, you can start adding the fonts back in, eventually the crash may start happening again and you'll know which font is causing the problem.

Something to try, at least!

[Yes We Did]

2. I have tons of new fonts!

I'll try it!

[moriah]

3. Eugh, sounds like Vista.

Am I right?

I'm officially using Vista as an excuse to "not do Windows". Give me NT. Give me Windows Server 2003. Give me anything in between. But not Vista. I would much rather just be a Unix person.

[Yes We Did]

4. Yes... I hate it.

[Lil Missy]

5. Vista can suck my socks. I hate it.

[blogslut]

6. When you re-installed your system

Did you do it with a CD/DVD?

[Yes We Did]

7. The restore disk.

It was all working fine... then I put on the fonts and photoshop, golive, flash, email camaign, and in a flash...

[blogslut]

8. Did you try removing the fonts

like was suggested upthread?

Just so we're clear, you're saying the problems started after you got your OS working and then installed all your chosen software?

Was there one particular software program that you installed, where you know things began to wrong?