WP

I suspect this is an issue on my side and putting here to see if you have any ideas as I have tried everything I know of (I am not a computer expert by any stretch).

So, I log in Friday evening and everything works fine, normal speed, etc.

Saturday I log in and I have a nasty 3 step lag (can take about 3 steps then lag for about 5 seconds). This is variable and changes from 3 to 10 step lag throughout the day. It is worse when I go into an area with monsters and as soon as I attack or they attack me, I freeze for 3-6 seconds between attacks (it seems the more graphics involved with the monster the more I lag, ie spell casters are worse).

I then tinker with other programs on my computer and notice lag there as well (especially internet explorer, it takes a long time to open and if I go to a site with graphics the issue seems amplified). So, I go to AMD and update my graphics drivers. This appears at first to help and everything runs a little smoother. But, when I go into game and attack a monster, it goes back to the 3 step lag/freeze. On a hunch, I dropped my firewall and logged in to see if this was the issue, but even with no firewall I still have the intermittent lag-o-death. This makes fighting extremely difficult. To verify what I am thinking as a computer problem, I log in on my daughter's computer and, sure 'nuf, I am zooming all over. So I believe this is a computer specific issue....anyone have any ideas what else I should look at?

I am running HP laptop, windows 7 64, RadeonHD 6000 series

EDIT: I also notice when I click on my Start button and choose "all programs", the list opens blank and takes a few seconds to populate

Since it's specific to your computer and not the household connection to the server that's flawed, I'd just do some basic PM and checks. Turn off the computer and blow it out with some compressed air. Defragment your main drive a few times. If that alone doesn't do the trick (it usually does with my notebook), maybe check your game window size and make sure it's nothing larger than around 900x675. In your computer's Display options you could try reducing the color quality if it's at the highest setting. And you can find free tools on the web that will test/monitor your graphics card for you, to let you know if there are any issues like overheating. Good luck with it

Your hard drive may be failing. That's twice as likely since it's a laptop and is subject to jostling that a desktop is not.

There is a free tool here -
http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

Get the portable, standard edition (the top-right download link). It will tell you if your hard drive's health is good, in a warning status, or almost dead by reading its SMART information.