Issue with launcher - "FFXIV has stopped working"

[Chevrefoil]

For the past five days, I've been experiencing a new problem with the launcher. It loads up properly. All the images and links are visible/normal and clickable (and take you to the appropriate pop-up windows or screens).

The issue occurs when I attempt to log in -- once I've entered my username, pw and secret key and press "log in", I get a sudden window popping up that says "FFXIV launcher has stopped working" and the launcher closes. This will happen repeatedly until I am finally able to log in (get to the "Start" button without crashes) and then the game works as expected.

I wasn't aware of any "file fix" tool for the game or if I would just have to reinstall to see if that's the issue. Has anyone else had that problem ever? Any suggestions?

EDIT -- After posting this, I suddenly got a new pop up window upon trying to log in "System error -2146697208. HTTPS System Error." I will try researching that now...