I'm having this same issue. I just installed the free trial and all of the tools seem to work fine. However, any time that I try to test run any of the sample programs that came with it... The sample program freezes after about a second or two. I just checked and my drivers are all updated.

Starting to look like this may be a bug of some sort.

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100216-1514)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HP Compaq dc7600 Small Form Factor
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 664MB used, 3276MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)