HELP!

I have no knowledge of most software programmes, HTML or programming. So after years of getting by on many disappointing Windows programmes, I was a bit gutted when some computers
with XP on it (and now Vista) would not play any of my old games. In particular, my favourite game of all time, Championship Manager 97/98 (probably a dirty word in the eyes of many neglected girlfriends..).

I decided to go out on a limb and install DosBox which I had heard about a few times. I then installed D-Fend Reloaded which I heard would make it easier for idiots like me (and already had DosBox on it anyway) as a 'front-end for Windows'.

To my surprise, it worked first time. I put in the Champ Manager 97/98 CD and everything seemed to be saved on to the program (I don't think I did this myself) and I believe the cm2e16.exe was the program file selected to be run. It worked, and although it ran a bit slowly (despite giving it high memory) I could load it up as a small window and play it
while surfing the internet etc.

It had been fine for a few months when a few days ago I loaded up my computer (a Dell laptop with Vista), and a random box saying 'Dos-Box initialising' came up. I double clicked on the D-Fend icon and my game, 'CM9798' was missing for absolutely no reason. I tried a couple of system restores but all that did was make DosBox disappear.

It seems like D-Fend has automatically updated as the icon and some of the graphics appear newer and different, but I don't understand why it did this automatically (I thought it was manual) and why a game would be deleted/disappear.

Since then I have tried various different ways to set up the game again but it won't work. For example, it will only let me select a .exe file which I must have done before, which is either cm2e8 (the basic version of the game) or cm2e16.exe. The name of the game is then that (e.g cm2e16 and not CM9798 as before, although I may have renamed it this and
forgotten).

For some reason it seems to take longer to set up a game this time round
although I have tired various different methods and files, usually resorting to using the wizard. Setting up the game DOES work, but when I load the game the graphics are terrible, i.e 2 colours and no text, and so bad it is not playable.

I have no idea why 1. The game disappeared for no apparent reason and 2. I now can't make it work properly despite having the same software and hardware as before. Any ideas guys and girls?

I am a bit gutted as the game was a little reward for myself at the end of a stressful day, and I was also on season 25 of 30 when it disappeared, close to what would have been only the 3rd time I have ever completed CM 97/98.