Corel Draw X8 Student/Home version stopped working

i have been running Corel X8 student/home version for a number of years. my operating system is windows 8.1. it has suddenly stopped working. as soon as i try to open a file or start the program i get an error saying "a problem caused the program to stop working correctly. windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

windows then just shuts down Corel X8.
i have tried to repair the program - no luck.
i uninstalled the program, then did a fresh install using a newly downloaded version of X8.
i still get the same error.
any help to get it working would be really appreciated as i am a teacher and need this for my school work and preparation for lessons.