Open up Wordpad or Notepad and type just one letter. Select the letter, choose edit - copy. now exit.
I'm not sure if windows uses the clipboard when running BG games, but you should try this before starting the game - it will free up some memory.
In case you're wondering, windows hangs on to the last information placed on the clipboard (not necessarily by you) so the best thing to do is to make sure that it only has the minimum info in there - one letter is as good as it gets!
You may want to save and exit the game when it gets choppy and try this, just in case windows does use the clipboard.
Another thing is to go to your Windows/Temp folder, and delete everything in there - again this is hogging space on your hard disc, and may hog your memory as well.
Check how many fonts you have in your Windows/Fonts folder - you can probably get it down to 30 or 40 and still keep internet explorer happy. Just open a new folder from the root directory of your hard disc (usually c
and call it Fonts backup. move all your infrequently used fonts in there from the windows/fonts folder. if you need them again, you can simply drag them back into the windows/fonts folder. Fonts hog memory like no-one's business.
other than that, it's spending money time - more memory etc. (I saw a 256MB 133MHz Dimm for under £30.00 and a 512MB Dimm for under £70 advertised a couple of days ago - makes you sick when you remember what we paid for ours!!!!!