Well after hours of scouring my computer I have found the answer and solved my problem. People might want to make a note of this because it was simple and much less frustrating then some of the other instructions I have found on here:
1st- After downloading Itunes I was getting the "itunes encountered a problem and must shut down" error when trying to launch it. I was also getting the "buffer overrun" error when attempting to start Quick Time.
2- I hit ctrl, Alt, delete to bring up the task manager. I noticed 3 processes running in the background- "iPodService.exe", "iTunesHelper.exe" and "AppleMobileDevic...". this was a surprise to me since I never downloaded iTunes before....HOWEVER I discovered by searching my computer that my 17 year old son had about a year ago. He attempted to uninstall the programs BUT these processes remained even though nothing showed up in the installed programs from start>all programs. Also did not show up in the add/remove installed software. In any event here is what I did:
I first ended all three processes in task manager. I second went into Start>Search and ran 3 seperate searches for "iPod", "Apple" and "iTunes". Deleted any and all references and dll's. Be careful with the Apple search do not simply select all of your findings and hit delete because applets shows up in the search and u need them for your other programs. Simply delete anything from Apple Computer. Then I ran CCleaner which is available free from www.ccleaner.com. Click on issues and it will give u a laundry list of missing dll's and unused ones. Then by hitting Fix selected issues it safely deletes the registry entries no longer being used. For safety it gives you the option of backing up your registry entries but i have had zero problems doing it. Run that a few times till u get the "No Issues" found message. Then I closed all and redownloaded the new iTunes with quick time and all seems to be working!!! I just got my iPod so im gonna test further but as far as the downloading and opening of the programs on my XP that solved the issue. Hope this helps others.
