Hi basilbrush,
sorry for not getting back to you earlier
I left out the link to DX 10.....
DirectX® 10
There is a utility for removing DX at
Download DirectX Eradicator 2.0 - DirectX Eradicator - safely remove the DirectX runtime core component from Windows - Softpedia .... could be dodgy though
I dont like the idea of messing around with DX like that.
Have you tried running AOE1 by right clicking and selecting Run As Administrator?
regards
Steve