This happens more often if you have the story progression option selected. Go to options, click "advanced demographics options" (its the last tab) and unselect Story progression option. It may shut down a few more times as it does what I like to call a flush and then it stops shutting down so much. This may not solve the issue for you but it worked for me.
I know after six years a reply from this thread is a long shot... My story progression is always unchecked, but it still shuts my friggen game with the same damn message "The Sims 3 has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working..."
@prn58 Yes, this thread is quite old, and I doubt any of the original participants are around to reply. But if you provide a few more details, I can try to help. When does the game crash: when loading (and on which screen), when you've been playing for a while, when you enter CAS or Build/Buy; or is it random? Have you tested a fresh save, and if so, do you get the same result? What world(s) are you currently playing in?
It would also be helpful if you could run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.
https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/
