Catalyst Control Centre: Host application has stopped working

This may be the solution you are seeking.

I recently removed the Vista Recovery Center malware from another one of our company laptops. It has ATI graphics installed. This malware hides most of the files on the PC in an attempt to fool you into thinking that your PC is really damaged like it is reporting. Removing the malware does not undo the hidden aspects. In Vista, the c:\Users*"your profile name (usually Owner)"*  folder contains the AppData subdirectory that the Catalyst Control Center needs to access in order to function. When this directory is hidden, then CCC cannot locate the necessary files to launch. To fix this issue, I use the following steps.

Navigate to c:\ and right click on Users. Select properties. Under the General tab, look at the bottom for the Hidden selection. If there is not a check mark in the box, place a check mark there. Hit apply, select yes to apply to all subdirectories. If you clicked ok, you may notice that it disappeared from the right pane once it finishes. It should still be listed under the tree on the left. Right click on it again. This time remove the check mark and apply to all subdirectories. Once it has finished, your files in the Users directory should reappear and Catalyst Control Center should function normally again. This has worked in all cases that I have encounterd so far. Hopefully this works for you as well..

I followed these instructions as best that I could.  When I Hit apply, select yes to apply to all subdirectories. If you clicked ok, you may notice that it disappeared from the right pane once it finishes. It should still be listed under the tree on the left. Right click on it again I did not get the results stated. When I clicked ok, I did not see a right pane and after about 25 minutes I not get a chance undo the Hidden box.  Bottom line is that my desktop disappeared so II tried to get my desktop back by restoring my  backup from 6/15. 

That did not work so I finally went to windows system restore  and finally got my desktop.  Thats the good news, the bad news is that my computer has slowed to a crawl.

I guess I am not enough of a geek to get a positive result.  Now I am thinking that I should remove a program called "Catalyst Control Center-Branding" but I have no idea of the consequences I would get if I do it.  Can you or anyone else help me with this?

I had the same issue but did not lose the files and you probably didn't either.  If you right click on the parent folder i.e. "documents", "favorites" and go to properties in the general tab you can see how many files exist under those folders.  The problem is that they're hidden.  In that same tab if hidden is checked you will need to uncheck it.  In my case it was not checked but the files were still hidden.  I had to check hide, then apply to all subfolders.  Then I had to uncheck hide and apply to all subfolders.  All the files will reappear.

Packfan 1 Thank you.  There is peace in the household because of  you!!!!!   Can I help in paying for the kids college?? Just Kidding.

I'm pretty sure it's a virus on my computer and not a software glitch from Microsoft,   here's why: 

1st  When the first warning appeared and subsequent warnings thereafter, the cause was "Catalyst Control Centre stopped functioning"  notice the spell of  Center.  This spelling is  European in nature. 

2nd When it first appeared it asked if I wanted to upgrade  the Catalyst Control, I clicked yes.  The next screen ask for credit card info, which of course i didn't give ,  and better yet  the price for the upgrade was in Euros.!!! 

3rd I'm not running windows 7.  I'm still on vista.

I must admit the graphics sure looked like a Microsoft product.

I had the exact same issue and found this, did as you said and they are back..  Thank you, thank you