I recently experienced repeated crashes in PSE 6 editor while attempting to do a common editing technique that requires me to paint (with a brush) on an empty layer. During painting the screen would freeze for a moment, and then the disk would whir and the dread message "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down..." would appear.
To get right to the punchline, I exited the BOINC client and now I can complete that task again.
I don't know what the issue is, I hope someone can look into it.

Computer Dell Dimension 4550 (Pentium IV 2.33GHz or so) 1G RAM, loads of free disk space.