A simple reversable procedure can be performed to give as much of your system resources as you can to the running of AOEIII.
Click Start> Select Services; Select Hide all Microsoft Services; then click on Disable all. click on Apply and Reboot. The system will boot up, like safe mode, but with all your hardware drivers working as normal. Remember, things like virus protection and firewall. wont be running, so I wouldnt recommend using this procedure for online playing. Another place to check for programs loading up on startup is in Start> Try the game, it should run faster. To reverse this measure, just load up msconfig again, and go into Services, and click on Enable All, Apply, then Reboot. Av fun!
*NOTE* This is one measure to improve the performance of your pc for the game, but if you manage to mess up your system, dont blame me.
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