I have the same problem every time i start firefox. it even happens in safe mode. i am using windows 7 enterprise basic installation with no updates & kaspersky pure as anti virus. The laptop is a dell inspiron 1520 & also firefox keeps crashing due to problem with Adobe flash( i have updated flash & firefox to the latest version). Please help fix this problem!!

This question was posted 11 month ago. however right now 47 of 51 users on this thread are experiencing the problem this week. Given the huge difference in affected users, those users new to this thread are likely having a different problem than the original thread starter. For those users who '''start experiencing this problem this week''' and '''on Windows 2000 only''', [http://jiangshengvc.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/bug-in-security-update-for-visual-c-redistributable-package-april-12-2011-causes-program-error-on-windows-2000/ you may have installed the Security Update for Visual C++ Redistributable Package: April 12, 2011 which does not support Windows 2000]. You can try uninstall the newly updated Visual C++ Redistributable Package and restore the Visual C++ Redistributable to the ATL secure update version (search ATL Security Update in download.microsoft.com to get those old updates). Microsoft has [http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=76351.0 recalled this update] and changed the version detection so it won't offer the update to Windows 2000 user again. I suggest Windows 2000 users to follow the instructions [http://tedwvc.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/new-redists-break-all-dynamically-linked-mfc-20052008-apps-on-windows-2000/? here] and have up-to-date antivirus software and antimalware to catch the virus/malware that tries to utilize the [http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms11-025.mspx dll planting security hole in programs created in Visual C++] that got publicized by this update. For the users who have this problem before this week or on Windows XP and later systems (Norton 360 requires XP and later, and raghu102 is using Windows 7), it is theoretically possible that you may have a malware/virus already using the security hole in Firefox mentioned above to launch itself when FireFox starts, although if someone has the expertise and spent the time to do this kind of attack, it is unlikely the virus/malware would have this kind of rookie mistakes. The chance of a kernel32.dll or the system's DLL loader corrupted in a way that allows your computer to started up fine but error out only when Firefox starts is very slim. For those users who find another kernel32.dll with size or date different than the one in the Windows's folder on in the firefox's install folder or somewhere else on your disk, a consumer security or Windows repair forum may be a better place to address the infection.

I found this solution. If you follow the directions exactly, it works great. http://tedwvc.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/new-redists-break-all-dynamically-linked-mfc-20052008-apps-on-windows-2000/

Has Microsoft released a fix yet ?