okay, well, i have tried three times to download sim PE on to my computer. it goes through the whole installation prosses, but then when i click run, there's this buzzing noise, and nothing opens. am i doing something wrong? please, please, please help!

That doesn't sound right.

How much free hard drive space do you have?

Download the file first, THEN install it THEN run it. If you try to install on the fly (while you are downloading) that may be cause lots of problems.

You need to uninstall any broken versions of SimPE before you reinstall it.
Click Start, Control Panel
Click on Add Remove Progerams
Wait for it to open (It can take a few moments)
Scroll down to SimPE and click once on that
Then it will be highlighted and you should see a REMOVE button
Press Remove and let it uninstall
When it is finished, I recommend that you shut down your computer properly and reboot (Clears cache files)
THEN download a clean copy,
THEN install it
THEN open it.

To find out how much available hard drive space you have:
Click on My Computer
RIGHT-Click on your C drive
select Properties

How much free space do you have?

Remember that you realistically need at least 250MB free just to have some space for your computer and programs to run. Yes, you can get by with less free space but your computer will run very slow.

SimPE: Read and click on the I Agree link at the bottom
http://sims.ambertation.de/en/download/

nope. it still didn't work.
one thing i forgot to mention- when ever i click download, and it says "open source software- you are now downloading sim PE..." nothing comes up so i click on the direct link to save it. could that be the problem?

It is open source software. You may have a little security warning bar at the top of your page that might be blocking your download. Set your popup blocker to allow downloads from sourceforge.net. If you are using IE, you should see a popup window asking if you want to run or save this file. SimPE_0_+72_01c-Setup.exe tell it to save. If you don't see the popup, fix your popup blockers.

Which browser are you using? IE should open a popup box where you can select the destination directory.

Firefox download directory is preselected. Click <CTRL> <J>, to open the download folder or click Tools Download.

If you are using something else, Use IE or Firefox.