I used to have similar frequent slow downs (almost to the point of stopping)
in my computer's performance. After lots of frustration, I turned off the
automatic checking of Windows Update site every 5 minutes and solved the
problem. I then also turned off all automatic checking that was by default
built into other programs.
My experience might be related to your problem. Hope it helps.

Tom Mayer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kerry Drake" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2003 11:42 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Framerate problems when playing video games


> I recently (approx 4-5 days ago) started to get a HUGE framerate drop
> while playing any kind of video game on my system.
>
> My video card wasn't the greatest but i figured it to be software
> related  because a framerate drop would even occur when playing a SNES
> emulator (which in the past was NEVER a problem as it shouldn't be). I
> figured it may have been a tweak program i had ran "Tweak XG" - this
> seemed to start shortly after.  DirectX 9a was already installed before
> i had these issues so once again i was blaming the Tweak
> program...........however this is what i have done to try and correct
> the the issue  :
>
> -i purchased a new video card, i upgraded to an MSI MX440-T8X 64Mb (it
> only runs at 4x AGP due to my motherboard limitations however) - the
previous card
> i had was an ATI Xpert 128 16Mb
> -i installed the new video card
> -i formated my hard drive
> -i reinstalled Windows XP Professional (the same OS i was using
> beforehand)
> -Because a game i wanted to use needed directx 8.1 or above i
> reintalled directx9
> -I have installed the latest version of the Nvidia driver and "VIA 4-in-1"
Motherboard drivers
> -and also lowered my video acceleration by up to three notches (located in
display settings > advanced)
>
>
> ........and i'm in the same boat, framerate dips that are so bad they
> ALMOST freeze the game while playing (which happens in 15-30 second
intervals)
>
> Other PC specs that may help you :
> -pentium III 850 MHz
> -576 Mb SDRAM
> -Asus CU4x Motherboard
> THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read this and i hope there is
> something you know of that could help me out.
>
> Kerry Drake ([log in to unmask])
>
>          PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
>                      visit our download web page at:
>                   http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml
>

         PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
                     visit our download web page at:
                  http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml