DirectX help-.. I have the latest version of DirectX and I still get the error!

[MrsSpiff]

Well, my boyfriend told me of this forum.. So I turn to you guys. For the past few weeks, I've been trying to get this damn game to work. I remember playing it when I was a child, and thought I'd return to play. It's one of my favorite ones!

But of course I got a life and I reformatted my shit, got Windows 7. (My computer is literally a steaming pile of creamy shit.)
I thought I'd launch the game and start playing again, but it gave me an error. That I needed to download the latest version of DirectX. So, I did. But when I tried, it completely screwed me over and said I couldn't do it because I need to verify some file.

I went to one of my computer technician friends, and he got me the latest version of DirectX. It is on my computer. Right now. But when I try to start up the game again, it gives me the error. Again. So does anyone know how I can fix this?

For those who are too lazy to read all of this, here's some keypoints.
I have Windows 7.
It's giving me me the DirectX error, I INSTALLED the latest version of DirectX. It's still giving me the error.
I reformatted about 4 months back, if that has anything to do with it.
It tells me when I try to install DirectX(again) from the Microsoft website, that I need to verify a file is on my computer or something.

I'd really appreciate any help. Thanks for reading.