Managed to get AH working again!  Without discoeing...
I de-fragged my CD files last night (took 14 hours actually) and then I ran a virus scan.  
every mornign I run a virus scan, get rid of the programs that are running that don't need to be run... then I play AH
There's still lag, but it's gone down to a minimum...  Hooray for de-fraggs!!!