If you’ve just installed Red Alert 3 on Windows 7 then you may be presented with a simple black screen on startup, that just freezes there.

1. Navigate to the Data folder, ie. C:/Program Files/Electronic Arts/Red Alert 3/Data
2. Rename the Movies folder to “Movies.renamed”
3. Start up the game
4. Set your resolution to the same as your desktop
5. Apply the settings and quit the game
6. Rename the Movies directory back to “Movies”
7. Start up the game and it should work

YMMV.