A note to begin with: I still run my game from the physical discs. For some reason, I have to uninstall and reinstall my entire game once a month or so. This used to happen when I had too much CC piled up in the game, but even though I now keep it down below the threshold I discovered (no more than 9500 files or so), I still get hit about once a month. Usually I just swear a lot, then uninstall and reinstall the game, no big deal. Today the game wouldn't start AGAIN, so I started doing the uninstall from the control panel as usual -- the last installed expansion gets deleted first, and then so on. I uninstalled Seasons and Pets with no problems, then when I tried to do Best of Business, a message came up saying "this app has been blocked for your protection" and that "an administrator has blocked you from accessing this program." I am the only administrator and the only user on my computer. I was able to uninstall BoB by going into the Program files and running the uninstall application. But when I got to University, the same "app has been blocked" message popped up. I couldn't uninstall University or Double Deluxe. I tried deleting the EA Games folders from the Program files folder, but then was unable to run the install applications from the discs -- I got the same "app has been blocked" message again.

I've tried running virus scans and a registry cleaner program. There aren't any viruses, and even after cleaning the registry I'm still unable to do anything.

Am I just completely screwed? I've done everything I can to adjust my game to run in Windows 10 and it was doing fine apart from the repeated need to uninstall and the need to edit the graphics rules every time I reinstall. I can't think of anything that would have caused this; the game was running fine just last night!

No idea what to do with the install issue, but once you fix that one the solution is pretty simple, because this sounds like a classic case of borked cache files. There's absolutely no need to reinstall your game every time it happens.

Go to the "Documents/EAGames/TheSims2" folder and delete these files:
Accessory.cache
Groups.cache
Cigen.package
Contentregistry
(The two latter ones depend on whether you've used Bodyshop or Homecrafter, and may or may not show)

If you have CC or use Bodyshop they will from time to time get borked and will stop your game or Bodyshop from properly running, but they're safe to delete and will regenerate with every new restart or when you make items.

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Windows 10 can sometimes have issues with the copy protection called SecuRom (which was launched with TS2 from Bon Voyage and onward, I think) because technically they're not compatible. Just so you're aware.

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Reinstalling the game should only be done to
A: install the game on a new computer, or after a complete reset of a computer (or any of the sort - basically if the game is no longer installed and you want to install it)
B: If multiple install files have been borked somehow, and there's no way to get them from the CDs (most of the time the individual files can be copied and replaced)
C: In the case of a borked install
D: ... That's it, really.

About 99% of problems can be solved without a reinstall, and in more cases than not, a reinstall can cause a lot of problems, so better not accidentally cause any issues.

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If you're currently trying to uninstall via the "uninstall" EXEs in the Program Folder, have you instead tried to uninstall from the Windows settings (Settings --> Apps?) That could help. And make sure you're the administrator on the computer.

Thanks; I wish I had known this a lot sooner. My daughter said, "Well yeah, everybody knows you have to delete the cache files from time to time." I've been playing the game for nearly 10 years and somehow never managed to learn that.

Still having the basic issue though.

Don't worry - the cache file issue is a classic beginner mistake (took me a few months to figure it out... and a whole lot of reinstalls... But that's fortunately a loooooing time ago now).

I'm guessing the game is a bit messed up now, so uninstalling and reinstalling one last time is probably needed.

Which method are you using to uninstall? Are you doing it via Settings/Apps, or via the Uninstall function?
If you have Best of Business, you may want to try uninstalling with the Uninstall EXE in the install files - and if that's what you have been doing, try via Settings/Apps. Sometimes the collection packs tend to be really sticky.

I think I had the "app has been blocked" problem some weeks ago. It seems to be a windows 10 problem (since my old, almost dead windows 7 laptop always ran the game just fine), and I had to use regedit to fix it. I'm not the best at explaining, but it shouldn't be a hard thing to do.
Open the start menu and type: regedit. Open it and go to:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
Double-click on "EnableLUA", change its value to 0, accept and restart your computer. The "app has been blocked" popup shouldn't show up again when you install or uninstall your game.

I uninstalled Seasons and Pets in the Settings window, then hit the snag with Best of Business. I was able to uninstall Best of Business via the Uninstall function, but couldn't do that with University or Double Deluxe. It's like the computer decided I could go just so far and no farther.

Thanks, I'll try this.

You do not want to be uninstalling and reinstalling. This can cause issues with left behind files in the registry. The only reason to uninstall is moving to a new PC or completely corrupted install files. I guess its possible if you didn't tell your antivirus to leave sims 2 files alone that it might do something to the game install. Most issues are not in the installation files but in the files under documents. DO NOT uninstall for Document issues. That is like removing every book in the bookcase and putting them back, absoutly pointless.

It's more like removing every book in the bookcase and putting them back without looking at the covers, because the one you pulled out was upside down and therefore you assume the bookcase doesn't work. You pull out a new book, it works fine, then another, it works fine, then you pull out a third book, and it's upside down, so you take all of the books out and put them back in without looking at the covers. And keep going like that for a while (the books and bookcase becoming more and more worn)... until you realize you can turn the books around in your hand

You rarely need to reinstall for problems in the install files, either. If there's too much borkage going around, or if there is borkage present from startup, then maybe - but most problems can be fixed without reinstalling.

After I figured out the cache issue back in 2006-ish and had the last reinstall on that laptop, I've installed the game a total of 3 times, all of them related to moving to another computer (CDs on the previous ones, and fixed my UC game a few times on the new one while I was struggling to get it to work, but I don't count that as a reinstall), and considering how long it takes to install TS2 CD by CD (installing the UC wasn't particularly quick either), I'm happy I haven't had to do it any more times than that.

Hey, it appears to have worked! Thanks so much; hopefully I won't have this problem again now that I know how to fix it.