Crashing when I load a flight or press "Fly Now!"

I've officially given up on this....I know I said that I wouldn't give up, but I did. I've fought with this for two weeks and do not know why all of a sudden it decided not to work. Numerous FS9 uninstalls and reinstalls, registry scans, virus/spyware scans, driver updates, maybe a MS update or two (like the IE7 install and not update that they forced upon me in the "critical updates") and frustration that other games/programs run without a hitch have nailed the final nail in the coffin for FS9. I downloaded the FSX demo and it ran without a hitch, other than a little slow, but I have my graphics set way to high I think and tweaking and trial and error will fix that. I know that FSX is like $69 and is kind of high, but I do have three $5 reward certificates left over for Best Buy so that should help the price a lot. I know that FSX will not be anywhere like my FS9 with my AI setup, but I'd rather fly than annoy myself with the endless nonsense that FS9 was putting me through.