How do I stop the following error message appearing when I switch on
my computer:  'The application failed to initialize properly
(0xc0000005). Click on OK to terminate the application'.

Check the error logs and try and find out what the program is that is
causing the error.

In windows 2000 or XP go to Control Panel -> Administritive Tools -> Event Viewer

In the applications log there should be the error in there and also
some other error information.

When you start your computer make a note of the time and then scroll
to the time in the error logs and find the error.

Hope this helps

you may delete the Norton CleanSwap program.
1.Edit c:\boot.ini with notepad.
edit the [operating system] as follow
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect

2.restart your computer,choose the second os in system choosing  menu
3.login windows and delete Norton CleanSwap
4.restart and restore the boot.ini
5.restart

Is this it?

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/11331107.html

when your windows first comes on it loads applications along with it.
in order to edit these applications you run msconfig. if you are
running windows 2000 then you can borrow the app from xp or download
it off microsoft. open the run command and type in : msconfig the very
last tab to the right says startup. this contains a list of all
applications that load along with windows. be carefull when you select
them, YOU MAY DISABLE YOUR FIREWALL/ANTIVIRUS. there is also a
services tab. becarefull when playing with the services tab as most of
the services are windows related and need to be enabled for certian
functions to run on your computer. there are 3rd party apps that do
the same thing and could be considered mal-ware-ish paid programs.

A Common Cause Of The 0xC0000005 Error:

The error 0xC0000005 is generated by an illegal "memory access
violation". This can be caused by anything from faulty RAM, an
incorrect/corrupt device driver, poorly written/updated software and
more commonly under Windows XP Service pack 2, malware/adware
installations.

Usually you get this error message when performing a specific task,
and if that happens you need to check the corresponding 3rd party's
website/support department to see if they are aware of the problem

..a while back Symantec Antivirus caused the 0xC0000005 error with an
additional message about a file called SAVRT.SYS . A simple software
update to the Symantec Antivirus cured the problem.

...below are a couple of other suggestions:

Number One - Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0

SYMPTOMS:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 stops responding when you try to open
an HTML document or a Web page. Additionally, you receive the
following error message:

Access Violation (0xC0000005 exception)

CAUSE:

This problem may occur when you use Internet Explorer 6.0 to open an
HTML document or a Web page that contains SPAN tags. If a SPAN tag is
not closed correctly by using the </SPAN> tag, an access violation may
occur.

The <SPAN> tag is an inline element that renders text by using a style
sheet. The tag is typically used to change the style of an element or
of a block of text.

<SPAN> tags are also used to group inline elements in an HTML
document. For example, the following HTML document may cause an access
violation because the </SPAN> tag is missing.

RESOLUTION:

Hotfix information -

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only
intended to correct the problem that is described in this article.
Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.
This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not
severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the
next Internet Explorer service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support
Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft
Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support
costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for
support calls may be cancelled if a Microsoft Support Professional
determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual
support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues
that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

Number Two - D.E.P

In Windows XP Service Pack 2 Microsoft introduced Data execution
prevention (DEP), a set of hardware and software technologies that
perform additional checks on memory to help protect against malicious
code exploits. In Windows XP SP2, DEP is enforced by both hardware and
software.

Some software/application behaviours are incompatible with DEP - data
execution prevention. Applications which perform dynamic code
generation (such as Just-In-Time code generation) and that do not
explicitly mark generated code with Execute permission might have
compatibility issues with data execution prevention. Applications
which are not built with SafeSEH must have their exception handlers
located in executable memory regions.

Applications that attempt to violate DEP will receive an exception
with status code STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xC0000005).

If an application requires executable memory, it must explicitly set
this attribute on the appropriate memory by specifying PAGE_EXECUTE,
PAGE_EXECUTE_READ, PAGE_EXECUTE_READWRITE or PAGE_EXECUTE_WRITECOPY in
the memory protection argument of the Virtual* memory allocation
functions.

If you are having issues with 0xC0000005 errors in DEP and a
particular piece of software is causing the offence, contact the
vendor for a resolution...

Note: It is possible to "Turn Off" DEP in the boot.ini file but this
really would be a last step!

/NOEXECUTE

This option is only available on 32-bit versions of Windows when
running on processors supporting no-execute protection. It enables
no-execute protection (also known as Data Execution Protection - DEP),
which results in the Memory Manager marking pages containing data as
no-execute so that they cannot be executed as code. This can be useful
for preventing malicious code from exploiting buffer overflow bugs
with unexpected program input in order to execute arbitrary code.
No-execute protection is always enabled on 64-bit versions of Windows
on processors that support no-execute protection.

There are several options you can specify with this switch:

/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN Enables DEP for core system images and those
specified in the DEP configuration dialog.

/NOEXECUTE=OPTOUT Enables DEP for all images except those specified in
the DEP configuration dialog.

/NOEXECUTE=ALWAYSON Enables DEP on all images.

/NOEXECUTE=ALWAYSOFF Disables DEP. (This setting doesn't provide any
DEP coverage for any part of the system, regardless of hardware DEP
support. The processor doesn't run in Physical Address Extension (PAE)
mode unless the /PAE option is present in the boot.ini file.)

I think you have a virtual ram dirve installed, remove this software
and you will stop receiveing error messages. (after later maybe, you
can reinstall it)

this error message, if it comes immediately after selecting ur
username in welcome screen. Then possibly none of this has to be done,

As the issue is purely software related block, so there could be a
startup agent causing this issue, and can be resolved.

To check if it is this issue, just do one thing

Click >> start >> Run >> msconfig >> 

click on the startup tab on top right end, click disable all, click apply,

click on the services tab, put check mark against  "hide all microsoft
services", click disable all ,

**make sure that u put check mark against "hide all microsoft services" **

click on close, restart system, check if the error message is coming up, 

Please post reply with result.

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.  At last I have got rid
of the problem - with your support I have managed to track down the
answer.  I have fixed it by:

Configure Windows so that it does not load the file or service
mentioned in the error message.
 Important

The following procedure might require you to restart your computer,
which will close this troubleshooter. If possible, view this
troubleshooter on another computer while you perform the steps on the
computer you are troubleshooting.
To continue troubleshooting if no other computer is available

Right-click the page displayed on your screen, and then click Print.
Follow the steps in the printed copy of the procedure.
After your computer restarts, reopen this troubleshooter and answer
each question as you answered it initially.

When you reach this page again, answer the question at the bottom, and
then click Next.
If the error message refers to a file or service, then the file or
service might be listed on one of the tabs in the System Configuration
Utility (Msconfig.exe). If it is listed, turn it off; if not, click No
at the bottom of this page, and then click the Next button.

To disable a file or service using the System Configuration Utility

Click Start, and then click Run. 
In the Open box, type: 
msconfig 
Click OK. 
Try and find the problematic file or service mentioned in the error
message within the System Configuration Utility:
Click the SYSTEM.INI, WIN.INI, Startup, or Services tabs, and, if
necessary, expand a category (for example, [386enh] on the SYSTEM.INI
tab).
If you see an entry that refers to the file or service mentioned in
the error message, clear the check box next to that entry.
Click OK, and then restart your computer when you are prompted to do so.