JTCS won't launch anymore - what is going on?

[Crossroads]

I posted the following to Matrix tech support forum;

I've had my W7 64bit rig for quite a while, with no issues apart the need to set the Desktop Composition off. I've played JTCS for years with it. I think I bought it like 2010 or something like that. Maybe even a year earlier.

Now, all of a sudden, I can't launch the exes anymore.

If I launch them by clicking the East Front / West Frong / Rising Sun exe, the result is the same: a black screen with nothing happening.

If I launch them by clicking the EF WF RS exe, it opens the game in a standard mode for playing a new scenario, which is no good if I want to play a PBEM or say a Hot Seat scenario.

If I launch the JTCS main menu, it shows the window with 'hot spots' for selecting East Front, West Front, Rising Sun, etc, it shows the Matrix logo screen when I click one but won't advance any further, resulting in the same black screen.

I had some bad sectors on my HDD where I had it installed previously, but now I have a fresh HDD with a fresh new install (no mods or anything in place, just the vanilla JTCS as it comes out of the box).

Any idea what's going on? Anyone else having this issue?

I was sure it was the old HDD as it was like a third time it was reporting bad sectors, and that is a sure sign it is about to blow off. But no, I have a fresh disk with a fresh install and it still won't launch.

All I can think of is a Windows update that screwed things up but then I would likely not have been the only one.

I have Windows Updates enabled so they update automatically. I have MS Security Essentials for virus security and keep that one up to date as well.