dazd-confusd,

I had a similar problem in a fresh install of Vista Ultimate- everytime I
tried to do anything in the GUI (Explorer), I got an error, "Windows Explorer
has stopped working"... looking for solutions, "Windows Explorer is
restarting..."  It seemed that there was no end in sight.

Check the event viewer to see what is causing the error.  Open the Task
Manager (CNTRL ALT DEL, start Task Manager), then from the Task Manager
program, select File-Run from the menu.  Type MSCONFIG.  You may have to try
these steps several times as the crashing Explorer will probably get in the
way.  In my case, Explorer crashes mostly did not affect secondary apps (i.e.
Task Manager and Msconfig).  In Msconfig, select the Tools tab and select
Event Viewer and click Launch.  In Event Viewer, open up Applications to see
what errors you are getting.

If "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\***.db" is
causing the problem, you need to delete the *.db file in that directory.  But
because Explorer is crashing, you obviously can't do this from a window.  Go
back to Task Manager and type, "runas /user:[username that has administrative
rights] cmd"

You will be asked for you password.  Enter it.  Now browse to the directory
with the *.db files that are causing problems and delete them.  They are
temporary thumbnail caches.  One or more are are probably corrupt.  As soon
as you delete these files, Vista should run just fine.

-Brad