Window keeps minimizing after I start game, and a friend's lag/sound issue

[dwulf]

I am having the exact same problem with the game minimizing and locking the mouse in the top left corner. It gets to the Frictional logo screen and then minimizes every time. The only difference for me is that it crashes windows explorer every single time the game minimizes, including multiple times on the same instance of the game. The weird thing is that the game runs completely fine in windowed mode. So far that is the only way I can play the game, but it ruins the immersion and this game is all about immersion so at this point I basically can't play. Would love any help anyone can offer in getting this game to work fullscreen. Thanks.

Edit: I have all the latest drivers, firmware and DirectX for my system, too.

My system:
EVGA nForce 750i mobo
Intel Core Quad Q6600 @ 2.4ghz cpu
4gb DDR2 800 ram
EVGA GTX285 1gb videocard
Win 7 Ultimate O/S