Vista - Vista x64 lag spikes while playing games

Topic pretty much says it all. It happens when I play numerous games - Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, etc. This has never happened when I had Windows XP. I've searched the forums for a solution but have yet to find one. I'm using 'Win Optimizer' right now and I still get spikes (more frequent as of lately). Anyone know a "fix" or solution for this problem?

OS: Vista x64 Ultimate
Wireless router: Linksys WRT54G
Wireless adapter: Linksys WUSB54GC

I had a similar problem after upgrading to Vista 64 with a FalconAF. In my case, it ran smooth, but every minute or so, I would suffer from lag. Turned out that it was my Saitek x52 joystick profiler program. It was using 50% of my CPU power. Research found that this was a common problem with my Saitek and what caused it. I modified my x52 Falcon profile to avoid that issue and all is well now (running at over 200 FPS ... smooth).

Anyway, it could be something minor causing your issue. I suggest you run a CPU monitor program to check resources before, during and after running your program to see if something small is causing your grief. Thats how I figured out my Saitek profiler program was the problem in my case.

I just used the built in CPU monitor that comes with the sidebar and was suprised to see when I exited Falcon that my CPU was running at 50% when I was doing nothing and tipped me off to a the problem.

Is this what you have tried ?

Vista WLAN Optimizer .NET

Checking the internet connection is a good idea. I would go into a command prompt and type something like "ping yahoo.com -t" to see if you get any time outs as a simple quick test. Then you should know if it is internet related or something else.

I once had internet troubles with Falcon in XP, but it didn't cause lag, it caused dropped connections. With the above ping command, I could see that about every ten seconds, my internet connection timed out. A call to the service provider was needed and they sent somebody out and they physically fixed the lines.

Did you ever have these games working in Vista properly, or did the problem start as soon as you switched to Vista? If the problem started as soon as you switched to Vista, I would suspect that it is driver or program incompatabilty issues over internet connection issues.

I never used that freeware program, but if by "spikes" you mean dropped packets, then do the ping test and you may have to call your internet company.

I can easily tell you what the trouble is, if you also get random disconnects. It is most likely your cable internet provider if you are on cable for your internet connection, having installed an AMBIT cable modem. AMBIT cable modems are the worst on the market for random disconnects, they don't get along with any router. I replaced a dying Motorola cable modem with an AMBIT in November 2007, what a mistake that was. I had nothing but trouble with random disconnects and lag spikes until I pulled it out, and replaced it with a Motorola Surboard 5101, and low and behold my ISP admitted that Linksys routers don't get along with AMBIT cable modems.

Since I got rid of that piece of junk AMBIT cable modem, my problems with random disconnects and at times lag spikes quit.

I've checked this out on the net, and in literally every case the trouble didn't quit, until the poster on the forums I've checked got rid of the AMBIT cable modem, and got something differnet, such as a Motorola cable modem.

I'm suspecting if you are playing over the internet on a cable connection, that your ISP set you up with the piece of junk AMBIT cable modem.

Thanks for all the replies, but sadly none of them seem to help. I've tried checking processes and monitoring my CPU, but it never goes over 2% load when idle.
BigDaddy5XL, no, I'm using another wireless optimizer called "Vista Anti-Lag." It's supposively better than WLANOptimizer (I've tried both but to no avail).
I used CMD to ping websites, and I don't get any timeouts. It doesn't happen "every 10 seconds" more like every minute or so. It's in rhythm like it's restarting my connection every minute. And yes, I haven't had these problems with any of my games before I installed Vista. All the drivers are working properly (given it took some time to find it for Vista 64 by going through Linksys' forums) as far as I know.
WildEagle, I am using a cable ISP, but the modem provided is a Motorola brand, not AMBIT.
I'm starting to think I have to live with these spikes

So, with the ping command while you are NOT running any web applications, you time out every minute or so with any website that you ping???

Are you running wireless?

Sounds to me like it is a problem with your internet service provider. My time out was more regular at every 10-12 seconds, but a timeout every minute would have had the same effect on me.

It turned out that they did some work outside my unit and my signal strength was too strong coming into the house. The cable company had to send a technician over who replaced a splitter with some sort of filter (and while here, replaced a cable in the house as it looked shoddy). I noticed he also grounded the filter/splitter. I don't know exactly what he did, but once I got proper signal strength into the house my internet problems disappeared.

So, if your PING is timing out regularily (every 10 seconds or every minute or every two minutes) with all websites you try, then it may only be coincidental that it started the same time your switched to Vista.

I am not familiar enough with Vista to check to see if it is a LAN driver or something, but maybe a Windows Update, or a visit to your LAN card manufacturer or computer manufacture's website is in order to see if they have an updated LAN driver for your computer.

But I personally would be calling your cable internet company to check your signal strength coming into the house to see if it is too week or strong ... unless I misunderstand what you say about the rythm is like it is restarting ... then check for updated LAN drivers.