I was getting this error, followed by Windows Explorer is Restarting,
almost anytime I tried to open anything in control panel with Vista
Home Basic. Was setting this machine up for a friend and I made the
mistake of installing the latest drivers from Intel for a DP965LT mobo
with the Sigamatel 9227 Audio Codec. I had installed several things
along with the audio drivers. At some point I realized I had this
problem and suspected the audio drivers because some things seemed
whacky relating to the Audio.

To sum things up I did a restore back to prior to installing this
Intel stuff amd fixed the problem. Then I started into re-installing
the various drivers and the failure occured after the Sigmatel driver
was installed which also installs some waste of time application. I
don't know if the application is the problem or the driver itself. I
did go back to the version that came on the CD and fixed the problem.
I then, just for drill, tried installing the the later driver from
Device Manager pointing to the folder where the .inf file is located
and Windows told me I already had the latest driver for that device.

The driver package I had downloaded is named
AUD_allOS_x5511_v5511_PV_IDTGUI_v005. In looking at the .inf file it
looks like this driver is NOT for the Sigmatel Audio Codec but for a
different chip that this board doesn't have. What's with Intel
anyway? Don't they test this stuff? Wait, I think I know the
answer! Hope this helps somebody else out.