I've tried everything from setting the graphics settings to their lowest, running as admin...you name it

But the game keeps freezing every few seconds. mouse doesn't move, then it goes back to working, then freeze again. the freeze only lasts maybe one second, but i'm trying to figure out what the problem is.

thanks for the help

win7, w/ 4gb ram and duel core

Oh yes, I had this problem, too, on a new Core i3 laptop. Took me forever to dig up the info on ancient forum threads from long dead forum sites!

It turns out the Infinity Engine has issues with newer GPUs. There was an infamous rash of breakdowns when the GeForce 8 was released. (Apparently, anyway, I never experienced them myself.)

For my new Core i3 laptop, the solution was to update the graphics driver to the latest version that the laptop manufacturer had on their site. (The reference driver from Intel would not even install!) If you are on a desktop, you can probably use the nVidia/AMD/Intel/whatever reference driver for Win7. Make sure you grab the proper 32-bit/64-bit version.

On my desktop, Icewind Dale (CD version) runs fine using the latest WHQL Catalyst version from AMD, but you might have to go to the beta version if you have an nVidia card. Whatever you use, just make sure it is NOT the driver that Win7 installs automagically! That one causes serious issues for games.

If you are talking about IWD 2, get a "Slowdown Fixes by Extremist & Quint" from below
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/index_editors.php