Why wont it launch?

This is my first post, and I'm completely new to GalCiv II and to PC gaming in general. I have a problem that's got me stumped. I bought GalCiv II and installed it with no problems, played for a few hours to get a feel for the game and everything was fine. Now, when I double click the launch icon, this message appears: 'GC2Launch.exe has stopped working'. The weird thing is, I can still run the game if I right click the launch icon, click on 'Open file location' and then double click the 'GalCiv2' Application.

I've tried uninstalling the whole thing and reinstalling but for some reason I get the same 'GC2Launch.exe has stopped working' message when the disc loads. I did eventually get the game reinstalled, but I had to use the same arcane right clickery as before. I know this is probably a really basic problem but I would be VERY grateful to any and all who could help!