A Solution For Me
I kept getting the wuauclt.exe error messages and couldn't get Win XP to load properly. A help session with Parallels Support got me up and running. Thank Goodness.
But when I downloaded and installed Kaspersky Internet, Parallels crashed. I forced Kaspersky to quit, and since then I haven't had any problems, so far. Try it. It might work for you too.
But I agree with you. This version of Parallels is the worst. It is fragile and undependable and scary. On my MBP I never had a single problem with Parallels 3 or 4, but yesterday I had to deal with a crash with version 5. If I continue to have problems with version 5, I will revert back to 4, until they get this thing right.