Sorry if somewhere this thread already exists, but I have searched!

Im tearing my hair out with this problem right now!

Installed After Effects CS3 on Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I open it, its quick. Great!

As soon as i try and import ANY file, it crashes.

"After Effects has stopped working" or something like this.

Have you experienced this, if so, whats the fix? Thanks so much for any advice!

Tim, not to beat a dead horse but Vista is the problem. If you have the option, "upgrade" to XP.

Vista 32 bits Home Premium here.

I can use AE with no problems.

Are you using AE in the latest version? Do you have Vista SP1?

C'mon! This is the second thread TODAY that I've reminded folks that Adobe is very clear that they do NOT certify any CS3 applications to work with Vista 64. Sometimes people apparently do get it to work and we welcome folks sharing any tips, tricks, and work-arounds. But jeez, the frustration level expressed by those who decide play outside the sandbox is amazing.

Sorry Pete, genuinely didnt see your post.

XP here we come then.

Tim, not to beat a dead horse but Vista is the problem. If you have the option, "upgrade" to XP.

I strongly disagree with this statement. Vista is most likely not the problem. Vista is nowhere near the same now as it was when it was first released. Dozens of patches and fixes have been released, and hardware and software manufacturers have had plenty of time to develop drivers that work well. I've been using the CS3 Production suite for 9 months now in Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit and Ultimate 64-bit. One of my machines just finished a 2 month long 3D render while I periodically rendered projects in After Effects and Premiere Pro. 2 months without a single reboot or crash! No machine I've ever had has ran as stable as that. Personally, I've had MORE problems and issues running After Effects on the XP machines at work than I have with my own personal Vista machines at home! I understand that Adobe doesn't yet offer support for a 64-bit Operating System, but 32-bit applications should have no problem running in a 64-bit OS. There are so many other variables in any random computer system that it's foolish to immediately pounce on the operating system.

But, to try and help out the OP, there are all the standard questions:

Have you tried a fresh install?
Have you installed all of the updates and patches for both AE and for Windows?
Are you running other programs at the same time? This includes other apps like Premiere or Photoshop.
Do you have programs running in the background? Things like Anti-virus software, software based firewalls, any random little weather tracking/ cancer researching/ custom screensaver application that sits in your taskbar?
Does your system have the resources to run Vista and other intensive apps like AE? I've noticed that lots of people complain about system performance and how much Vista sucks, but then I'll find out that they're trying to work on a crappy little Celeron machine with 512 MB of RAM and integrated video!

Try turning off all the extra software and see if After Effects is still giving you problems. If it still doesn't work after a fresh install, there may be a conflict somewhere with the OS. Everyone has different programs running on their systems, and with so many different combinations, it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact cause to the problem. Hopefully this ranting helps!