Games crashing to windows in XP

Help !! I have XP running with 512Mb RAM, on a PIII 933mhz machine.

Every time my kids try to play a game, the game loads, plays, then suddenly drops back to windows, no error messages.

Sometimes you can click on the name on the task bar, or Alt-Tab, but most often the only thing we can do is re-boot and start over.

I have no knowledge of these things, can anyone offer a solution ??

Thanks.

PS: The two games we have tried, and both failed, are Championship Manager 01-02 and Sims.

 

Have you run the latest XP application compatability update from the Windows update site? Tools|Windows Update from the IE toolbar.
Make sure you are running the latest XP drivers available for your video card and check the offending games web sites for XP updates.

Paul

 

If you are not able to get an update; there is another way to run the program. XP has a Compatability package in it. You can try this on most programs except, and this is very important- anti-virus programs. Do not try it on those. Right-click the applications file , click Properties from the pop up menu and click on the Compatibility tab. The box will let you change the Compatibility settings to one of the modes listed. Adjust it by checking one of the boxes. Then click Apply and OK and you are set.