Well I used gif animator in the past and everytime I do a reinstall on my computer gif animator crashes when opening when displaying loading video io or something like that.I found out in the past how to fix it. Open the run box iun the start menu
type in the following. (you may want to copy and paste in there.
regsvr32 /U 3ivxDSEncoder.ax
Then press enter. It will give you a message saying something like successfully regestered. Then run gif animator.It should load fine. Also note I am using windows xp professional with service pack 2. Unlike the fix above you do have the ability to use video stuff like import video. I believe it posted here before I can not find it. I wish that put that in the faq as it does fix the ploblem.