adobe digital editions 3.0 has "stopped working"

hello.

i have been happily using adobe digital editions 3.0 until today when this message appeared: "... has stopped working", so i decided to install 2.0 which "stopped working" when i tried to open it for the first time. I uninstalled both editions, emptied my recycling bin and restarted my laptop. I re-installed 3.0 AND 2.0, but the same issue is occurring, I can not even open the program (the message "... has stopped working" continues to appear). is there any way to fix this issue, i would like to read my ebooks again. I am using windows 8.1