I'm using Windows XP with Service Pack 3, and boy is this game a bother to get working properly! If I try running either the old or new version of the game normally, it never progresses past the title screen. On the new version it never gets past the "do not shut off while saving" screen, in the old version it stays with the title overlaid on my desktop. I've looked around for solutions, and one thing that works is running the new version in Windows 98/ME compatibility mode, but that seems like it might be causing other problems. One thing that puzzles me is that looking at issues other people have had with starting up the game, nobody else seems to have the game freeze at the point I do.

Here as well, try running the game explicitly as Administrator by right-clicking the file you use to start it and selecting Run as ..