common causes of stutters...
1) spyware running in background - run adaware & spybot (wouldn't hurt to run a virus scan either)
2) hardware sound acceleration cranked full - run dxdiag - sound - make sure it's not cranked full
3) connection - how are you connected? perhaps your router (if in a home network) needs some tweaking, esp if you have other computers blasting away.
4) ah graphic details levels set too high and/or you're overreaching with your resolution, try 128 or 256, esp if you have it set at 512 or 1024 (video button on splash screen)
5) if you installed new vid drivers any time recently, you might have improperly removed the old ones, causing conflicts.
6) XP handles irq's pretty well, but this may also be an issue of some sort.
7) too much other junk running in background, go to
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/Archive/service411.htm and brush up on the 411 about xp services, speficially pay attn to what you can safely disable.
if none of the above seem to be the culprits, send skuzzy a copy of a dxdiag report.
