explorer crashing steadily in xp

[acs]

it gets worse and worse
i've had both xp and the box i have it on for 8 months.
2.5 pentium
512 rd ram
xp home

i open windows explorer
it will either crash immediately, or crash as i start
browsing through folders with larger amounts of files,
image or video files in particular.

i've defragged, scan disked, reg cleaned.
the last system restore i've done was 4 months ago
nothing major is taking up system resources, except
explorer when i run it....all resources.

please help.
the frequency is mroe and more, the more i use it.

 

[gary amundson]

I'm having what sounds like the same problem, except
WinXP Pro, and it usually doesn't crash immediately, it
waits at least a few seconds

It really is getting to be annoying! TIA!