Instructions

1

Click the "Start" button in the lower left corner of your desktop and click on the "Start Search" box. Type "msconfig" and click "OK." Click the "Startup" tab. The programs displayed below are those that run automatically when windows in launched. Work through the list and look for anything nonessential that may be draining system resources. Common culprits include iTunes and instant messaging applications. Uncheck those that are not necessary and restart the computer.
2

Hold "Ctrl," "Alt" and "Del" and click "Task Manager." This displays all the applications currently running. Many may not be familiar as they are background processes run by Windows behind the scenes. You can right-click and select "End process" on any that are nonessential. "System," "System Idle Process," "Services.exe" and "svchost.exe" are essential to Windows. Do not worry if you accidentally end something that needed to be running; restarting the PC will cause it to reappear again. Closing the wrong process can possibly crash your PC, but it won't do any permanent damage, so you're free to experiment to find the critical ones.
3

Visit the Curse website (see References) and locate the Framerate Adjuster. This program monitors the frame rate live as you play the game, if it detects that the rate has dropped below the desired level set by you, it will automatically lower the detail settings and reduce the draw distance in an attempt to increase performance.
4

Download and unzip the file to reveal the mod folder, which will be called FramerateAdjuster. Navigate to your "Warcraft" install folder. Open the "Interface," folder, then the "Add-Ons" folder within. Drop the "FramerateAdjuster" folder into the "Add-Ons" folder. Restart the game.
5

Access the "Options" screen from the main menu and select "Video Options." The options in "Display" will set automatically according to your Windows display settings, so they can be left alone. The "World Appearance" subsection contains five sliders. These are for adjusting the level of Anisotropic Filtering, Environment Detail and Texture Detail, as well as the distances at which Terrain and Texture are generated. Reduce all these sliders to their minimum levels. Click "Okay" and restart the game. If the frame rate has increased to above 30 frames per second, return to the options screen and increase each of the sliders by around 10 percent. Repeat this process until the frame rate levels out at around 30 to 40 frames per second.