Photo info strange behavior

Microsoft Photo Info fails to function in many strange ways. VCOM PowerDesk
Pro and Faststone image viewer 3.5 also occasionally fail with the same
no-close symptoms. All use explorer.exe

NOTE: This is a re-submission of a problem posted last week but with new
symptoms. Somebody replied to my original post but the link url took me to a
blank page and that reply is lost in the vast Microsoft servers.

SYMPTOMS (original):
Hourglass icon for the cursor in the grayed-out window
click the big red X and get “This program is not responding” msgbox.
Click the “End Now” command button brings the “Please tell Microsoft” msgbox
the PI windows cannot be killed by Process explorer.
Russinovich Process explorer shows a process ID number, no CPU usage
SYMPTOMS (new):
Sometimes fails to load when tried right after re-boot, persists as above
Other times it loads, then shows “File system I/O error” msgbox with
progress bar ½ way across its box. this version closes.
With one particular file, it displays the IPTC data but cannot write any
changes to that file, saying the file doesn’t exist. This also closes
normally.


COMPUTER:
Intel Core 2 duo @2.2 Ghz
2 Gb RAM
XP 5.1 sp2 + all patches to date
Dot net framework 3.5 + updates