I bought an old game that won't work. Tech support is all virtual.
Game is Privateer - Wing Commander.
I can't even see an icon to start it other than the COG Galaxy and that won't do anything when I click away.
grrrrr

Please provide screenshots of what you're seeing when you're launching the game from GOG Galaxy.

Alternatively, you can contact GOG support for help: https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?game=1207658938&product=gog

COG Galaxy won't launch. I see the icon on my task bar but when I double click I see a swirl for a few seconds then nothing.
When I go to tech support I am asked to load a file or my message won't send. I don't have a file to load - my System Summary?
Thnx

Did you read this?

Click on the Start button and Run, then type in 'dxdiag' and press return to start the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. Wait until it has finished collecting your system information (when the oprogress bar disappears) and then press the button 'Save All Information'. Choose where to save the dxdiag.txt file. That's the file you are supposed to upload.

Thanks surfer - I think this is the issue - I run Windows 7 - the game was sold to run on 7 - but the COG Galaxy appears to need 8 or better.

I will give this a try.

Appreciate the help! Thanks - tech support may be plan B - I think the real problem is I run Windows 7 (they sold the game as only needing 7) but I need 8

You don't need Galaxy to run the game. Just go to the installation folder & use the launch link.
The only thing you will miss w/o Galaxy are cloud saves. Privateer 1 runs with DosBox.

GOG give you Offline installers, you can download the game form GOG.com/account.

the current build of Galaxy 2 only runs in current OS i.e, Windows 10 [and not very old builds of Windows 10]

you can download Galaxy 1 or an early version of Galaxy 2 to work around this issue if you want to stay with Windows 7... upgrading to Windows 8 is your choice but it will not fix Galaxy

as already pointed out... the game can be downloaded without Galaxy as well so you do have options

I'd uninstall GOG Galaxy and follow surfer1260's advice of clearing leftover AppData folders. Then reinstall Galaxy.

If that doesn't work, you can also skip Galaxy altogether like surfer1260 and Zezione said and use offline installers. You can learn how to do that over here in step #2: https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/213148105-How-do-I-download-my-purchased-items-?product=gog

Thanks to all for the comments - this is a pretty good site!
I Uninstalled and reinstalled but can't find the Game - just the GOG file. Where should I be looking if not in GOG?

Absolutely!

Ooooh. So close.

I'm assuming Galaxy is asking you which folder you installed your game. Should be here by default:

C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games

If not, go find it using Explorer's search for "Wing Commander".

You can see in Galaxy where your game has been installed:

Click Owned Games
Right-click your game
Manage installation > Show Folder

Edit:
Sorry, I forgot that Galaxy doesn't run on your system.
I think that Galaxy installs games by default in the subfolder Games in Galaxy's installation folder.