When i get mid-way through the second story I'm no longer able to advance any further. I do what the goal is but it does not change and so I redo it and nothing happens.

I'm running VISTA on a fairly new DELL computer.

Apparently these errors are still in the game. I just purchased the original Life Stories and am stuck on the part where I'm supposed to make up with Mickey. First, it took me several rl days to become un"furious" and now the relationship meter seems to be stuck at 80/-82 (at least that is the lowest I can get it to go). If I don't pause my game and line up nice interactions (flirt, chat, joke, etc) as soon as he lands..either he starts "poking me" or visa versa and I have to start all over! I am literally trapped in a cycle with this chapter and am desperate to find a better way to help it move on. I see this as a major bug in the game and am currently looking for some sort of patch that may fix it! (I'm now wishing that I'd bought Sims2 instead..)*frown*

Don't panic. It usually takes a few days to finish a mission or to get a new one. It's not an error. The designers did this so the game would last longer, because without the time gaps, both storys would be finished within 20-30 minutes.