Snurfles I've split your post into its own thread since you appear to have a different issue. Please uninstall the EA App with Revo Uninstaller (the free version is fine), which is more thorough than a simple uninstall. Use the Intensive scanning method if asked. Restart your computer before reinstalling the App.
After reinstalling but before trying to play, please set an exception in your antivirus for EADesktop.exe. It's worth setting exceptions for the games too: TS3.exe for Sims 3, and TS4_x64, TS4_DX9_x64, and TS4_Launcher_x64 for Sims 4, or the entire Bin folder they're in.
If this doesn't help, please post a screenshot of the error, for reference. Please also provide a dxdiag. Hit Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can attach it to a reply using the camera (Insert Media) icon included with the other formatting buttons.
Thanks puzzlezaddict for your suggestions. My husband changed Direct X 11 to Direct X 9. I can now open Sims 4 from the shortcut (although not from the EA app) and everything seems to be working normally. For whatever reason the problem has disappeared for Sims 3. I can now open that from the app with any issues. Yay!
