Hi Lori,

I will link you to 3 tutorials I created. They will help optimize and speed up your computer to the same speed it was 3-4 months ago. These are all free mods/optimizations. For step #3 you might have to leave your computer alone to run the program for a few hours. I do this step on my computer just before I leave my house or leave it running overnight.

Step 1 - http://www.cleartechinfo.com/Learn-How-To-CCleaner-Clean-Optimize-Free-U...
Step 2 - http://www.cleartechinfo.com/How-To-Prevent-Programs-Starting-Windows-St...
Step 3 - http://www.cleartechinfo.com/How-To-Defragment-Computer-Hard-Drive-using...

The steps above will optimize your overall computer speed, not just Sims 3 gameplay. Step #4 below will just apply to Sims 3 gameplay performance. Step #5 applies to Sims 3 performance but can apply to an increase in performance when using other software installed on your computer.

Step 4 - Readjust your Sims 3 resolution and graphics settings. The higher you set your resolution the slower the game will play. The higher you set the visual settings the slower Sims 3 will play. You might have set the resolution and visual settings higher than they were 3-4 months ago. Lower them.

Step 5 - If you purchased a new Anti-Virus or Firewall software within the past 4 months I need you to Exit or Temporarily Disable the software just before you start up Sims 3. The new Anti-Virus or Firewall software may running at the same time may slow down Sims 3 gameplay

After you perform all 5 steps please do us a favor and post back here with feedback of how everything went. If for some weird reason you went through all 5 steps and Sims 3 is still running slow it may possibly be viruses, malware or spyware on your computer. When your computer gets infected by them it slows down most things on your computer. I have another set of tutorials to fix this ;-)