Unable to open program

Hello! I am having problems opening a downloaded program. When I double-click on the icon it shows that the program is open on the taskbar (at the bottom of the screen ~ where it shows AOL...) but all I see is the regular start-up screen....when I go to the taskbar and right-click on the program it asks if I want to minimize, close or restore. I deleted the program and all of its contents and re-installed but.....still having the same problem. I have had the problem before with attachements that I have downloaded, but never tried to figure out why I cannot open them....THANK YOU!!