Reinstalling Windows Explorer.

You may have an incorrect interface or version running.  Have you tried
Start
Run
SFC
This will check your system files and report corruptions/problems/changes.  Through this process you can restore/fix files from original Disk or CD (Win98).
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Also check this out, most helpful.

RESOLUTION
To resolve this behavior, follow the appropriate steps below for the version of Internet Explorer you are using:

Windows 98
Restart Windows 98, press and hold CTRL, and then choose Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu.


At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER
ren <drive>:\<windows>\system\shdocvw.dll shdocvw.old
where <drive> is the drive letter on which the Windows folder is located, and <windows> is the name of the folder in which Windows is installed. For example:
ren c:\windows\system\shdocvw.dll shdocvw.old
NOTE: This procedure assumes you do not have a Shdocvw.old file already located on your hard disk. If this file already exists, use a file name extension that is not currently in use.


Extract the Shdocvw.dll file from the correct media source to the Windows\System folder. For information about how to do so, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q129605 How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files
NOTE: If you are unable to access your CD-ROM drive at a command prompt, you need to load the real-mode CD-ROM driver and real-mode Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions driver (Mscdex.exe), in your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q135174 Cannot Access CD-ROM Drive from MS-DOS Mode or Command Prompt
Restart your computer.

Check this link for more details and options.
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 http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q175/9/30.ASP
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I assume you use and run the Maintenance Wizard which helps keep system clean and clear of many problems and includes SCANDISK/DEFRAG/Cleanup.  Also, try clearing your Browser's history and temporary files.

Try astaec suggestion, that should get you back in good shape, if not then the only thing left is the reinstall of windows, you can try it over top of your current setup first and if you still have problems them I would do a format of the HD and install to a clean HD

I don't have Internet Explorer, I'm having the problem with WINDOWS explorer, the program that you can look at your drive contents and stucture, same as 'My Computer'. This problem occurs when I right click on my CD-ROM drive and check the properties. When I click on OK for the properties window I get the good old 'This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down' message. Here are the details of my error message:

EXPLORER caused an invalid page fault in
module MFC42.DLL at 015f:5f404803.
Registers:
EAX=00000000 CS=015f EIP=5f404803 EFLGS=00010202
EBX=00000000 SS=0167 ESP=01a9fae8 EBP=01a9fb14
ECX=013509bc DS=0167 ESI=ffffffff FS=0f3f
EDX=00000007 ES=0167 EDI=00000000 GS=0000
Bytes at CS:EIP:
8b 30 85 f6 75 a3 47 83 c0 04 3b fa 73 9b eb f0
Stack dump:
013509bc 013509a0 5f402ba1 01a9fb0c 01a9fb08 01a9fb10 00000000 00000003 00000000 ffffffff 5f40110e 0044ea98 5f402c68 00000000 00000003 01a9fc60

I did try the SFC utility (pretty cool) and it fixed up 4 files. I also did a clean up and will try a defrag tonight (something I should probably do more often). If you know how to fix this problem I'd really appreciate some help.

Well you can not reinstall Explorer since that is embedded into Windoze, if you have the upgrade version then you can install it over top of your current windoze and you should not lose any of your installed programs.
If you have OEM version then you will have to reinstall all your other programs since you will have to format the HD or at least rename the windows folder before you reinstall.
If all you have is a restore version then you will lose all data on the HD

If you want to reinstall Windows with OEM ver., just rename or delete all WIN.* files in your Windows directory. Aslo delete the Windows\Desktop directory. All must be done in DOS mode (Start - Shutdown - Restart in MS-DOS mode). You won't lose your data and programs.

tlik
You will still have to reinstall them for them to be listed in the program menu, so in effect you will lose them. The best thing you can do when installing an OEM version of windows is to format the HD and install everything onto a clean HD, that also is the easiest if going the OEM route. I admit you can leave the other programs installed and with alot of time involved get some of them to work but unless this is a program you cannot reinstall or backup the data for it then I stand by the "Format and reinstall on clean HD"

Folks --

I just reinstalled WIN98 over itself with the OEM WIN98 CD-ROM that came with my machine and everything seems to work fine. I've also been experiencing Explorer.exe errors on boot/restart and have fixed them by running msconfig, unchecking everything in Startup and selectively re-checking each item, one at a time. Have re-enabled most of my core programs, all minus the annoying explorer errors. Have avoided enabling a couple of suspect programs without any system compromise.  Hope this helps.

You probably have an older version of the MFC42 DLL file. This isn't uncommon and can cause these types of errors, since some programs install their own version of this dll and overwrite the Windows version.  Although you can uninstall and reinstall the program that caused this problem, it may prove more beneficial to try SFC again and restore the version of MFC42.DLL that came with Windows 98 from source CD/Disk.  Also, this is quite nice and helpful, and may also be a quicker fix:

Start
Run
MSINFO32
Tools
Select Version Conflict Manager, and see if the current version is older than the backed up version.  If so, restore from that interface.  

Curious what changes were made just when this problem arose, in the event this doesn't solve your problem.

Also, curious if you keep your version of Windows 98 updated with fixes and enhancements delivered via the WindowsUpdate process from the start menu.

Please let us know if more is needed.

You'll notice that when you are in the Tools menu as noted above, lots of other options such as Dr. Watson, DirextX, SFC, ASD (Skip agent when Windows finds serious problems), Version Conflict Manager, etc.  

Cyber Knight --

Astaec's suggestion is certainly valid. Running the correct version of MFC42.DLL can be critical. Also, you mentioned that the problem occurs when you right click on the your CD-ROM drive and select Properties. You may want to uninstall your CD-ROM drive in Device Manager and have WIN98 recognize and reinstall the CD-ROM driver.

To do this, right click on My Computer, select Properties, select the Device Manager tab, check the "+" sign next to the CD-ROM drive, highlight the CD-ROM drive brand, then choose Remove. Restart Windows. WIN98 should recognize and reinstall your CD-ROM drive.

Hope this helps.

Marshall Gordon

If you will go to Windows Update on the web and run the Microsoft Libraries Update, this will install the newest versions of some of the .dll files including MFC42.DLL and MSVCRT.DLL. Microsoft has it out there for update. Or you can go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp
and download the file and install it yourself. I have also had some luck running SFC and using the extract one file option and extracting Explorer.exe from the CD and letting SFC do it.
Marshall B.

I tried restoring MFC42.DLL from the Win 98 CD, I tried the Microsoft Libraries Update, I tried reinstalling my CD driver, and I tried SFC and version conflict manager all without success. I think this problem began when I tried installing some CD-copy programs (Nero and CDRwin) for oversize copying (that didn't work either). I upgraded my CDRwin version and tested out the Nero demo (this program conflicted a lot with my EZ CD creator and Direct CD program so I uninstalled the demo). Since trying those I've reinstalled EZ CD creator and Direct CD twice but the problem remains. I still have to try running SFC and using the extract one file option and extracting Explorer.exe from the CD and letting SFC do it, and I will try Windows Update from the start menu again as it wouldn't connect when I last tried it.
Any other suggestions?

That's an excellent troubleshooting technique for problems that seem to arise out of nowhere. I found out that my Direct CD program is causing problems, now I have to call HP to find out how to fix it.
Thanx a million

http://www.hpcdwriter.com/products/fs_products.asp?page=8200i/index.htm

I'm happy you've found your solution (and hats off to marshall gordon for his input), perhaps this HP CDwriter link will help as well.

Asta

I've contacted HP and they walked me through reinstalling Direct CD in safe mode and then showed me some upgrades to download. PROBLEM SOLVED!