OK, putting your personal thoughts on the pros & cons of Nero aside....

Whenever I double click on Nero StartSmart it causes my PC to crash. Anyone any ideas why it is doing this and how I can fix it ?

[Note - ideas along the lines of "remove Nero from your PC", "don't double click on the icon" etc etc will be politely ignored ]

If it isnt the latest version of Nero, then upgrade. If its a less than 100% legit copy, download a different version.

I had problems with StartSmart, but slightly different. It opened fine, but would crash when I tried to launch anything with it. I just dont use it anymore and go straight to whatever part of Nero I want to use.

Unistalling and reinstalling could do the trick, if the install has somehow corrupted itself. If it isnt a legit copy it might be worth getting a hold of a registery cleaner and making sure you delete all related registery records too.

Cheers Andy, it is a 100% legit copy of Nero 7 Essentials OEM. I'll try what you've suggested.

I was going to mention I'd heard that Nero 7 wasn't all that stable. If patching or reinstalling doesn't work, Nero 6 with the plugins is just as good