@nicvinn and @betharies2 Please disable any antivirus you have installed, at least long enough to test. Merely setting exceptions isn't always enough.
It may also help to disable Origin in-game: hover over your username, select Application Settings, then the Origin in-game header, and disable the option at the top.
@betharies2 As far as I know, there aren't any reports of Windows Defender causing exactly this issue, so leave it for now. But please double-check to make sure your computer didn't come pre-installed with some other antivirus, because that could be blocking Sims 4.
Otherwise, you can try the steps I wrote out here, at least those that you haven't tried already:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-4-won-t-launch/m-p/9734633#M195227
And if none of them help, try running both Origin and Sims 4 as an admin: right-click on each shortcut and select "Run as administrator." (I think you're already doing so for Sims 4, but do the same for Origin.)
@puzzlezaddict Thank you so much! I did this before I read your post and it worked!
@nicvinn Great to know, thanks. Which step in particular helped?
