A note to all having loading issues...
 

If your PC says that OOTP is "not responding" when you are loading or simming, just give it some time. Most times it's just the game thinking and it will continue to work. Happens to me alot (not sure if it's supposed to or not). The worst seems to be when the annual scouting is happening Dec 30th each off-season.

In my experience this happens with Vista but not XP.

In addition, at that time of the season, your Almanac settings can play a big role on how much data is being collected. But you're right, I've seen a fair share more Vista-related posts than not, with regard to hangs.