If you have the full CD game, then you should use Windowed mode at Desktop resolution. That uses full 32 bit colour mode and seamlessly interacts with windows.
Since you are talking about restarting explorer, I can presume that you are using full-screen mode in Windows 7. In Windows 7, the shell script that kills explorer is required since windows 7 aero thinks it is the only owner of the 256 colour palette that the game relies on in full-screen mode. Windows 8 and above do not have the aero interface.
Full-screen mode is simply a fossil relic of the ancient MSDOS roots of the game and may not work with modern windows video drivers etc. It is therefore only provided "as is" - no guarantee if it works, that is all dependant on your system. Once upon a time, 256 colour mode
was the fastest mode - but no longer as modern video cards may not support it, or may have to use emulation leading to stuttering on scrolling etc, as modern video cards and their drivers are now faster in windows
native 32 bit full-colour mode.
The other things you may want to check re your termination problems:
1) if you have a foreign language system, the script may not point to the correct directory - may need editing of the shell script paths if so. Unlikely, as at least killing explorer works.
2) It may be an anti-virus issue - you may need to tell your AV about the script and/or the game exe. Your AV may have a way of excluding certain directories as being trustworthy.
3) It may be a permissions thing - if the user login you are using does not have admin privileges. So check if you are not using the admin account. (But if it lets you kill explorer, then you would think it would support restarting it, but this
is a Microsoft O/S...
)