for some years ago,i played,(simon the sorcerer 4:chaos happens),its a very nice
game,also i never had a problem with it,but now i installed it again,and it starts to
play,i must tell you i still have,(WIN xp),i have,(win-7),also,but this game runs only
on xp,so when it starts to play,after a few minutes,my screen becomes black,then
my computer restarts by itself,problem is i still have only a black screen,so in order
to get back,to my reguler desktop,there is only one way,to shut off,the main switch
for about a few minutes,then switch back,to on,this is the only way to get back to
my normal desktop,can anyone HELP me out PLEASE
i thank in advance,samuel

Assuming you don't have this problem with any other game on the XP computer, there could be an issue with using a widescreen monitor. Sometimes running the game windowed will fix problems with widescreen compatibility.

If this is the only game you've played recently on the XP computer, and you don't know if the computer is working well with other games, there is the possibility of a hardware problem. Spontaneous reboots can be caused by something fixable, like reseating the video card, or they can be caused by something that needs professional help, like bad capacitors on the motherboard. If you've played other games on the XP computer recently, and they've been OK, I wouldn't worry about the hardware problem though.

On the Windows 7 computer there may be an issue with the copy "protection" (aka disc-based DRM) preventing the game from running. According to the back of the DVD case the game should work with XP or Vista, so you'd think it would work with 7, but it seems to have problems with the TAGES DRM. The article here has some suggestions, like using compatibility mode on the installer before running it to install the game.
https://windowsforum.com/threads/simon-the-sorcerer-4-windows-installer-error.23326/

And as far as getting back to the desktop, try doing a CTRL/ALT/DEL to bring up the task manager after it reboots with the black screen. Then end any task that is running related to the game.

This is the weirdest thing --
that the computer still has a black screen after it automatically reboots itself.

It kind of suggests the game switched to a resolution your monitor or video card/monitor combination doesn't support (or doesn't support full screen). Then when the game crashed, it didn't put your desktop resolution back to what it's usually set to, and when the computer rebooted, it continued trying to display that undisplayable resolution.

I say that because I've had old games crash and leave me with a 640x480 desktop, which didn't go back to normal after a reboot. Those were 1990's games, but maybe Simon the Sorcerer 4 uses that resolution somewhere.

I think trying to play the game windowed is your best bet on the XP computer.
At least you won't get a complete black screen if it crashes.
This site mentions a "Simon4.conf" file where you can force the game to run windowed.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/938407-simon-the-sorcerer-4-chaos-happens/47560198

Maxxaureate only gives the location for the "Simon4.conf" file in Vista, but you might be able to do a search for the file, or maybe it's in the game folder on XP.

i have a freind,wich is a game professional,he takes old games,and makes it,to play
on modern computers,then he sells them,so i wrote to him of my problem,he told me
usualy by installing a game,the installer will have a default,where the game will be
installed,usualy it is in,(program files),folder,but untill now i switched to another folder
my freind told me,i should let it installed in the default folder,and not to change it,he
says that some games are very sensitive to any changes,i listened to him,now the game
works without any problems at all,i wonder on this,but its a fact.
samuel

The requirement to use C:\Program Files was a lot more common with games made for Windows 95.

When I played Simon the Sorcerer: Chaos Happens on XP (within a year of its release), I installed it to a game folder in the My Documents folder, the same way I installed every other game on that computer, and I had no technical problems with it whatever. After XP's Service Pack 2 came out there were often older games (made for 98/XP) that didn't work correctly when installed to C:\Program Files because of increased security restrictions in SP2, and it was generally recommended to install to an unprotected location, like the user's My Documents folder. By 2008, maybe this was no longer a problem with what was then "current" game releases, but I'd gotten into the habit of always installing to My Documents.

I can only guess why your game worked better when installed to C:\Program Files but maybe it just didn't install correctly the first time. If you have an antivirus, maybe it wasn't finished scanning the DVD while you were installing the game, and messed up the installation.