Well your best bet is buying a better computer. Just so you know a ipod touch can run a gba emulator easily, so your computer is weaker then an ipod touch XD
Options for using your current computer:
In VBA emulator, go to Options.
1) Under "Filter", make sure its set to normal. Using a filter will make it look much better, but dramatically slow it down.
2) Under "Video" you can try changing render options to others to see if you get better results.
3) Under "Frame Skip" you can try skipping frames, as it may increase performance by not rendering each frame.
4) Under "Priority" you can set it to above normal or highest, as it will dedicate more cpu/ram towards it. it may or may not work.
What you can also do is try using something like CCleaner (
http://piriform.com ) to clean you computer of temp files, and then do the registry cleaner to get rid of bad registry (it gives you option to back it up, id recommend you make a folder for them and do so). These things will slow down your computer, so doing this may increase performance alittle. Also you can go under tools > startup on ccleaner, and disable some programs from starting automatically that you dont need. (restart your computer for this to take effect)
Also you can open task manager (ctrl + shift + esc) and go to the performance tab. Check to see the cpu/ram usage before/after running VBA. is you cpu/ram at or near max? if so you will probably need a new computer or to disable some things running.
Go processes, and see what is using the most cpu/ram, and disable it (but note there are processes windows NEEDS running to run, so disabling some could crash windows. which you can just restart your computer to fix, so its not like perm damage or anything).
Then you can also go and defragment your hard drive. you may see some performance increase from that also.
And one more thing you can try is disabling some visual effects. Go to start > right click on my computer, and go to properties. (or control panel > system > system). You will be in the system windows, on the left side click advanced options. Then click on the "Settings" button for Performance. In that window, there is a list of options, id say probably just check "adjust for best performance". This will make everything ugly lol. The very bottom option on this list you have to scroll down for, you will want checked if you dont like not having window/button styles, which is the majority of it. But having that unchecked will help alot.
Also in this same window, you can go to the Advanced tab, and then go and click "Change" under virtual memory. Now virtual memory is not very good to use compared to normal ram. Anyway, if you have 1gb of less ram, set this to like 1-2gb. If you have above 1gb, then just keep it at default which is usually equal to your ram, like if you have 2gb its at 2gb. (restart your computer for this to take effect)
Anyway i hope this helps somewhat. Also when thinking about a new computer, remember emulation is VERY cpu heavy. so getting a better cpu would benefit more then anything. But as far as other computer gaming goes, its more based on the graphics.
