Hawk wrote:I also highly recommend CCleaner, but thought I'd give you a link to their web site so you can read about it and download it from the developers site.
http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER
Thanks to
Machinist,
arizonachris, and
Hawk for these replies!

I also use CCleaner, I have used it for many years. System Mechanic was recommended by Dell to try to fix a network connection issue I was having with a new laptop. The so-called "advantage" with System Mechanic is that it does run in the background, whereas CCleaner needs to be run manually. I also find CCleaner takes away too much stuff (like cookies that I actually
WANT to keep). My normal antivirus/malware/firewall suite is Norton Security Suite and that seems to do a good job keeping me clean. I removed System Mechanic from the laptop and I don't have a problem yet today, so I believe that may be my problem. I also suspect it of deleting the executable for Google Earth once or twice. Looks like I'll be removing it from any machine that uses TS2012! Playing trains is more fun than trying to figure out why a piece of software won't do its job properly!
BTW - the network connection issue turned out to be a new wireless router, not the laptop itself. I bought a different brand of router and the probelm went away.
I've also refreshed the software using the method that Machinist recommended, but I just feel that none of this should need to be done if the game is otherwise running normally. It has to be an external cause and I think we've found it.
Thanks again! I'll report back when I'm satisfied that this is actually the solution. I think it is...