Internet Explorer 7 - Application Error ?!?

Are you using Norton?  If so, have a look at this:-

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/22089136/Wordperfect-memory-error-when-inserting-graphics.html

Nope -- not using Norton.  Any ideas?  Could this be a problem with the new IE?

Yes, there are problems with IE7.  I am getting my clients to say no when MS Update asks if they wish to install it.  Best to wait at least 6 months before considering it stable.

Actually, I just troubleshot this issue after being very disappointed with most of the online resources' responses to these (which, to the best of my knowledge, have yet to provide a solution to anyone, with the possible exception of the Norton answer above).  I have found a few things that will cause this issue.  You will likely begin to see memory errors to the address 0x00000ba0 soon, if it begins to become persistent.  

First questions first:

1) Is this a Dell computer?
2) Do you use a cell card to connect to the internet?
3) Do you happen to show "Embassy Trust Suite Systems" in your add/remove programs?
4) Is this a persistent problem?  Is it happening every time you close IE, or just once and you're curious about it?

Basic steps you will want to perform, if and only if this becomes a consistent problem:

1) Try turning off third party add-ins/extensions in IE.  If this causes the problem to go away, you know you have an issue there.
2) Download BHODemon and make sure there aren't any malware BHO's (Browser Helper Objects) there.  Even if there aren't, try turning them off one by one and see if it makes it go away.

I neglected to tell you what the message meant.  Essentially, a certain portion of memory is blocked off and is not allowed to be written to.  The message is saying that the program is attempting to reference or write to an inaccessible area of memory.  Most online resources will give you the very unhelpful suggestion of running memtest, or changing your RAM.  While when this issue does not occur in IE or Outlook Express this may be a helpful suggestion, given the frequency of this question's appearance lately (and the amount of times I've personally seen it), I find this to be a colossal waste of time and resources.

Reading Adam's comments prompted me to add this.  Anyone using a Registry Cleaner/Firewall/Anti-Threat type app has to be careful, because all of these utilities will have been written before IE7 appeared on the scene, and therefore will be unaware of some of the "tricks" that IE7 will perform on your pc - unusual registry entries, dll's.  Certainly one of the known problems browsing the web with IE7 is the fact that IE7 carries an unusual User Agent string, which many web sites may not know what to do with and therefore may present a page to the user which has faults in it.  Though none of this Comment explains why you are receiving Memory errors, it does give you reasons to uninstall IE7 until such times as these issues disappear.

IMHO this points to a fault in the underlying Operating System.  Windows should really be handling whatever this issue is as an "Access Denied" issue rather than whittering on about memory errors - a memory error *should* always be indicative of a Hardware issue.  The OS should have total control over what is going on in the pc, anything that is writing to RAM whilst it is doing something else should be trapped by the kernel.  Anything that is not under its' total control should be in a playground with a big fence around it - you can do whatever you like in the playground, but try climbing the fence and I will stop you.

I should also clarify, a Dharmvir's post is evidence, the two steps I gave above are just entry suggestions.  In the majority of cases I've found them unhelpful.  If they don't work, then the answer to the preceding questions will likely help track down the offender.  Currently 6-for-6 on the answer lying in the range of those answers, though to be fair the 6 share a fairly common platform.

Answers to AdamRobinson's questions:

1.  Yes, this is a Dell.
2.  No -- cable modem, ethernet cable connection.
3.  No "Embassy Trust Suite."
4.  Not a persistent problem -- very random, very rare, but it has happened once or twice before.

By the way, I am not using Norton, but I am using McAfee.  Thanks to all for your replies!

Alright, if it's very random, my response won't do you much good.  

I think what we are seeing here is the equivalent of the "Invalid Page Fault" message we used to see a lot of in W98.  Something has happened, hasn't been trapped by the Operating system, and this is the only response the OS can give.  The fact that this message has gone from being non-existent to occasional makes me think that either (1) a recent Windows Update has broken something quite low down in the bedrock of WinXP or (2) a WinXP exploit has been written by someone who is not seeking "instant gratification" (the aim being widespread infection before "pushing the button"), but this exploit has a small bug in it.  Either way, this is something Micrososoft need to look at.

Of course, one program that might have "back-door" access to the kernel of WinXP is IE7.  MS have long given the impression to the outside world that IE cannot be unbundled from the OS because it is part of the Core.

Moorhouse: Would have to be a pretty tricky one.  I ripped a system apart entirely with quite a few low-level tools and saw nothing hijacky at all.  

I think it's very likely it's a problem with MS, exacerbated by various 3rd party apps.

Adam

Did you try a Rootkit checker?  [You mention low-level, so I suspect you have].

Moor: Yes.  If two of them had rootkits, a certain company has a very big problem on their hands.  :)

Ironically, one encountering the issue did have the Sony kit on it, though it had nothing to do with the problem.

To add to this thread, I have recently seen on a couple of machines I manage the same error referencing instruction "0x037af2c0" @ "0x00000ba0" can't be read....  I went through to clean out the machine and imediately after Cingular Connection Manager, I was given the error for "iexplorer.exe". After that I never saw the error message again. I dont know what it could have tied into, but I figured I would add this to the knowledge base.