I used to get the hated 'application has stopped working' dialog box with the older versions (could have been 2009 or older). I have always upgraded to each new version and have in the last year moved to Win7. Somewhere along the way the crashing stopped. I recall that it had something to do with the Roland vsc that was the issue for some (including me - it didn't happen with true midi). I think it is still a problem for people with 64 bit Windows and Roland, but a new synth is available (Coyote) that works with 64.
As Pat Marr said, be sure there isn't a rogue dialog hiding somewhere in the background, and at times even now BIAB / Windows will show "not responding" in the title bar even though it is still working at some task and comes back to life on its own.
Your system specs would help in nailing down a better answer to your questions, but I think the upgrade will not only solve most of what you describe but you will be impressed with the new features as well.
Good luck.