SirFuzzi

First, let me foreword by apologizing if this is the wrong area to post this.

I'm running this game on a laptop with Windows Vista. I've got more than enough capability to run it, I'd think... I'm running in compatibility mode, but it's still being slow as molasses when more than 7~ characters are on screen at once or if there's a particularly big sprite of some sort (doors mainly). It lags really badly, giving me trouble clicking buttons to leave menus at times if things are particularly bad. I can, however, disable the software transparency, resulting in some very bad graphical issues (the gears of the clock in the lower left being... 'beside' their allotted window, all items have a black 'box' around them, spells' animations are rather glitchy)... I'd like not to have to play the game suffering a visual disaster, though. I've determined it's not my computer itself (in terms of power or overheating, at least). So, I've come to ask one of two things, situation dependent.

1) Will this fix patch help the slowdown issues associated with faster machines?

or, if not,

2) Then how, by the blasted planes of Baator, do I get this game to run smoothly, and (ideally) without graphical error?