Sims 3 Constantly Freezes or Crashes

I recently bought Sims 3 from Steam and everything loaded perfectly up to the Sim Creation. As I created my sim and I came to the clothing area, it just freezes. The music plays and I can move the cursor, but nothing else moves nor can I exit out of the game without force shutting down my laptop. I left it for over 10 minutes everytime, but it still wouldn't move. I also tried the DEP solution, but no luck. Does the fact my laptop runs on Windows 7 effect it? What are the ways to fix it from freezing and crashing? Thank you.