Unable to run game after clicking the play button of arcanum

All I want is very basic step of what I need to do to actually start the game! I don't care about all the patches for this and that _ I just need help with the game actually running when I click PLAY!!
Took me two weeks to work out how to install Arcanum as I kept receiving a message telling me that the software contained malware so my anti-virusa wouldn't let it fully install so I was missing the play option -that problem is now solved after sorting out my AV…But my new problem is now that I have fully installed Arcanum when the auto-play menu appears and I click play…my system boots up and then nothing happens…
So what do I do oh wise ones??
The fact that I use Vista - is that a problem?
I have installed the latest directX

Cheers, caylez