Launcher does not start

I launch the game and immediately incur slowing and studding of computer and game.
Its takes a min of 30 seconds to have the task manager come up and a VERY slow mouse movement and is delayed 15-30 seconds. Force closing of the game take 3-4 minutes. Once the game is closed computer returns to normal. I have tried to set the game to use one CPU core and has no affect.
On my Win XP OLD computer * duel core* I have NO problems running this game.

Thanks for any help.
CS