[lowdownjoe]

I'm having the same problem,the game drops to desktop and attempts to go online whenever attempting to start a new game or load a saved game.Letting it continue does nothing besides connecting to the web,leaving the game minimized in the taskbar,and if that's not bad enough,maximizing the game brings the game back up, but leaves your mouse pointer in desktop mode,forcing you to reset the computer.This is happening on a fresh install of w98,but was also present on a semi cluttered install of me,And,is also happening on a friends pc.Anyone have a clue as to what could be the problem?