all this started around the 15th decemeber 2001;

suddenly messenger crashes and BSOD's me. i restart, get bsod, cant get into windows except through safe mode. i backup my documents (which has my downloads, schoolw work etc...) to cd. format. reinstall win me. installs everything again (some from cd). problem happens again. i format, reinstall (again some from cd. happens again. now i get suspicious of virus so i do a virus check, using pc-cillin, mcafee and various others, nothing is found. i format the mbr, redo partition tables. everything i can think of. reinstall it happens again. now i get the idea something im installing is causing this so i experiment.
one by one restarting after each install i test out the exes from the backup cd, first i think its just icq, but then i format and try something else. after trying out numerous files (and doing numerous formas) i work it out to be all exes on teh backup cd

so no i dont use the backup cd for exe files and download fresh ones. the problem goes away. go on holiday, come back, everythingi s ok. few days later it happens again. i haven't backed up to cd so i do everything again and download fresh stuff. it goes away, then comes back again soon. i go back in my mind to what may be causing this. i can only remember 1 event which has happened each time, accepting a file from 1 of my friends on msn. i talk to him and he says he hasn't had any problems (and he is on windows me as well!!). i ask other people with have in common on our contact lists, they haven't had problems either. its only affecting me. i test out gettin even non-exe files from him, eg txts, jpgs. it still happens. since then i haven't accepted *any* files from him. im now in windows xp, yesterday while i was watching tv 1 of my friends was talkin to him on msn and got some files and opened them (a couple of exes, jpgs). all last night and for the last 6 hours my msn has been crashing more than a blind driver.

ive run virus and trojan scanners
ive formatted, cleared mbr and redone partition tables
i used all new downloads on my last format (27th feb - different reason)

the sypmtoms are different because of the different OS (i was on ME, now on XP) i guess

one thing is - why does this a) only happens when i open files from this 1 person b) why does it only happen to me c)why does it happen with *any* file type

the medium for transport of the files each and everytime has been msn using the same email address (he wishes to remain anonymous unless some1 can relate this to the email address ), im keeping my hotmail id anonymous as well for the same reason.

if anyone can come up with *any* theory on this i will be happy, its been annoying me now for 3 months and im gettin tired of formatting.