I need to know how to get past an error message that interrupts my
Windows 98 Dell P100 at a point where my desktop appears with task bar
and my Start button displayed but nothing else. Here's a little
history.

I have a Dell P100 running Windows 98. Don't ask me why, but the
computer appears to have only about 24 megabytes of RAM. This computer
was given to me by a friend and I've had it but not used it for a
couple of years. I have another friend who I have been trying to get
interested in computers and the Internet for years. Finally I decided
to give him this old Dell and get him online.

Yesterday I brought the computer to his house and thought that AOL
would be good for a beginner, so I installed AOL 9.0 from a CD I got
from a display at my post office. The installation seemed to go fine,
except that it said that it had completed installing AOL 6.0, not 9.0
and was restarting my computer. When the computer started I saw the
black and white words that said something to the effect of finishing
up configuration files. The computer began the boot process. My
desktop appeared along with my task bar (with the START button and
three icons next to it. Then suddenly an error window pops up with the
Word EXPLORER, saying "This program has performed an illegal operation
and will be closed. The the problem persists, contact the program
vendor."

I clicked on Details and saw "Explorer caused an invalid page fault in
module shell22.dll at 0167:7fcefdd9." Then below that was the word
Registers, and below that lots of letters and numbers and below that,
Stack Dump.

So with all that I am unable to get any further in the boot process. I
even started in Safe Mode and got the same error window at the same
point in the boot process.

I need to know if this is something I can fix myself. Perhaps the
problem is the  low amount of memory. Perhaps if I add a lot more the
problem will be resolved and I can once again boot up, remove AOL and
install another ISP's software and get my friend up and running and
enjoying all that the Internet has to offer.

I don't think it would pay to have the compute fixed by my local
computer shop. It would probably cost more than the computer is worth.
Likewise I don't want to go out and buy more RAM if that's not going
to fix the problem.

My question is, plainly, what should I do. And please don't tell me to
trash the old Dell and buy a new computer.

Thanks.