A system and method for handling the generation of an unexpected exception by an application. When the application generates an unexpected exception (i.e., crashes), the application's exception filter launches an outside exception handling program (EHP) that is separate and distinct from the application. Through a special protocol, the application and the EHP collaborate in responding to the unexpected exception. In this protocol, the application and the EHP communicate through kernel objects accessible by handles in a shared memory structure that the application creates before launching of the exception handling program and then shares with the EHP. Through this shared memory, the application also provides the EHP with information about the types of recovery options to offer the user. Through a graphical user interface, the EHP is then responsible for notifying the user of the application that an unexpected exception has occurred. Through the graphical user interface, the EHP also provides the user with the ability to specify various courses of action in response to the unexpected exception.