I am installing SIMS on a client's laptop because it's a teacher's and they needed. We install OldSIMSInst.exe first then SIMSInst.exe. Not sure why, that's what my manager just told me.
I also tried the screen resolution and that wasn't a success, though we did your "tab" suggestion and it worked perfectly, just a pain if you under/over hit it and have to start all over again.
This is the first laptop we've had issues with this sort of thing, it's a 1366x768 15,6" resolution, like other laptops we have but they don't seem to have the issue.