I recently cleaned up an Acer Aspire M1610 desktop, Vista OS, for a friend. This is a low-end computer, so I know it doesn't have much "umph" when it comes to graphics. After cleaning out the horrendous # of temp files, removing startup programs, games and other junk that came preloaded on on it, I installed Google Earth. It installs, and when you click on the icon, it loads (but in a relatively small window -- about ¼ of the screen area) and shows the globe. But if you try to do ANYTHING. . . like grab the window frame to enlarge it, or try to enter an address . . . it crashes the computer and I get a BSOD.

The motherboard has integrated SiS 3 Mirage graphics, and I updated the driver. I have tried deleting the cache, and tried the "Start in Direct X" and "Start in OpenGL" modes. None of this solved the problem. The Graphics Windows Experience Index of the computer is a relatively low 2.6. I have tried unsuccessfully to find what the minimum WEI for Google Earth. What is it? If it's <2.6, why does GE crash the computer?

System requirements for Google Earth are here: System Requirements for Google Earth

If you run dxdiag does it show any problems?

If not, you could try running an older version of Google Earth -- versions 5.1 and 5.2 are still available for download.