This can happen even if you are running as an Administrator, and it is caused by Windows very strict security settings.

To fix this, right-click your Visual Site Designer shortcut icon and select Run as Administrator. This should properly launch Visual Site Designer for you. If it does, great! You can continue to launch the program in this way, or you can go a step further and configure the shortcut to always run as administrator. Here's how:

1. Right-click the shortcut icon, and click Properties.
2. Click the Compatibility tab.
3. Here, put a check mark by Run This Program as an Administrator.
4. Next, put a check mark next to Run This Program in Compatibility Mode For: and ensure Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2 is selected.
5. Click OK.


If you continue having problems you may also need to set the application as an exception to Windows Data Execution Prevention (DEP) feature. Normally if this is the culprit, you'll get a little bubble along the taskbar notifying you, which will allow you to set the offender as an exception.

One last option that could be the cause of this, and related to the DEP feature, is User Account Controls. This is the large window that appears in Vista asking you to "Allow" or "Deny" access to functions within programs. You can turn this off within your Control Panel > User Accounts window, along the left-hand pane.

All three options let you control your system exactly how you want and give you full access to do/run anything on the computer.

Mine has been crashing on a regular basis also Nick - ever since getting VSD 7. In some cases I lost a lot of work. I decided to be patient until latest version fixes all of the problems and tried to remember to save a lot more often. Just read where the next version of 7.0 is out. I'm hopeful.

I've been experiencing application crashes also since updating to version 7. I'm using v7 build 11. Running on a Win XP, SP3 system - using AVG anitvirus. I have not had any system crashes with V6. It is getting very frustrating and time consuming but I too have learned to save often. One note, the site I am editing was originally built with v6 and then I opened and saved it in v7. My next move wil be to turn off my AV while using VSD.

While it may or may not be the culprit, I have found AVG to be a huge hog on a system and it caused more problems then it was supposed to help with.

AVG a huge hog? I didn't think any av could beat McAfee or Symantec when it came to resource hogs. I have used MS Security Essentials and Avast. They work pretty well and are lightweight. I only tried AVG for a very short time and chose Avast over it.

I have never used one and never will. They cause far more problems then they are supposed to help with. Almost every time when a customer has some sort of upload issue it always has to do with one of these programs.

I use Gmail for my e-mail, I never download attachments from my email and I don't download software from sites I don't trust. I have yet to ever have a problem.

Plus I like to format every other day just to keep me busy.

I know what you mean. I have seen some people who use the Symantec Suite who couldn't do anything, to include check email.

I heard you and Jo Ann are in competition to see who can reformat and install programs the fastest.

The three I use are Malwarebytes, Spybot, and Avast...and have had practically no issues,..these guys play well together and don't screw up my system...only use Outlook for trusted businesses/friends,...and everyone else gets gmail...

I use PC Tools w/ AV, Malwarebytes and Windows Firewall. I've not had any issues at all with any of CC's software, heck with much of any software really. Everything seems to be fine with PC Tools so I think I'll stick with it, I think it's been about 1 1/2 to 2 years now since I had any really nasty viruses or anything on my system since changing to PC Tools so I guess I'll stick with what's working for me and not causing me issues

@Tom, no Scott's in competition with my brother who formats every couple months lol. I never format unless I absolutely have to and that usually is around a year. The past 2 were to install Windows 7 and then to reinstall it because it was a bad install lol. So far so good though

I just downloaded the VSD7 software. When I try to open the program I get an error message stating VSD application has stopped working. It stopped before it ever started. Can someone help?