*To rule out the obvious, have you installed or uninstalled anything around the time it started?
Windows xp sp1 and 2 have a hotfix for it.

No. Nothing comes to mind. The problem started with paintshop pro 9. I though it was related to psp9 poor handling of memory  and my firewall messing things up, so I thought nothing of it.
This was when I first started installing programs to my then  new PC. I initially thought the error was a result of a bad installation of psp9. I was too lazy and didn't want to reinstall it.
 I thought it didn't matter but now I get that error a bit more often and with other programs as well.

I'll have to run that memmaker during the night, so the program has enough time to check out the memory properly.

On upgrading your computer to a new one. If you can afford it then go with an intel I7 quad core processor. The 920 is the best bang for the buck. Its in the same price range as some other quad cores but it has the benefit of hyper threading. Meaning its close to the same as having eight cores instead of four. It will slice through renders like butter.. :-) This would also put you in a position to not have to upgrade for quite some time.

Thank you very much for the info. I'll have to check out the prices and see  how much the upgrades end up costing.

-Morbo will now introduce the candidates - Puny Human Number One, Puny Human Number Two, and Morbo's good friend Richard Nixon.
-Life can be hilariously cruel