Does anyone have a problem with the game slowing almost to a stop when attempting to buy items from the armory. Out of the buy screen the game runs fast and smooth. THIS IS VERY FRUSTRATING!!! Please help.

Sorry, this is a new bug as far as I am concerned - no problem like that for me.
Suggest, re-install? Anyhow, Welcome to the W&W show-stopper club, there are lots of members!
If you can ignore/bypass these things, the game is still very much worth playing.
"With just a bit more testing it could have beem a great game!" How many times have I seen
that, or the equivalent! Why wasn't it so? Maybe in W&w II?

If nothing else work, try installing the patch. Although I did not have this particular bug, the patch did fix my game freezes and crashes.