I have an issue with a Dell Inspiron 15 (1545) laptop that refuses to open any applications (save select Microsoft programs, e.g. Security Essentials, Ctrl Panel, Windows Explorer (not Internet), regedit, Event Viewer, etc.). I've run Microsoft Memory Diagnostics Tool and it found a 'hardware problem was detected.' Does this indicate that the RAM has failed? I notice when I open programs like Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, etc., it always give me an error from WerFault.exe saying The instruction at xxxxxxx referenced memory at xxxxxxxxx. The memory could not be written. and sometimes something about illegal instructions.

If it is a hardware problem, does this mean that replacing the RAM is my only option? Again, I would also like to know if RAM can fail (like hard drives) and if malware can cause RAM to fail also.