Playing videos from MSN, Yahoo etc shuts down Internet Explorer

My system is Windows XP Home Edition with IE 7. Each time I play videos from Yahoo or MSN after a few moments it displays an error message which just states that IE encountered an error and needs to shut down. This has been happening for sometime even though I have updated drivers from the Dell website and completed the necessary MS updates. Its very frustrating to be in the middle of watching a program and have it shut off. There is no problem with sound while the video is playing. Any suggestions as to how I can fix this problem? Please note I am not a tech wiz, thank you.