Huge framerate issue

1st-
Open "Task Manager" and look at the "Processes" tab.
Click "CPU" to arrange by CPU usage
You should have at least 90% (or more) in the "System Idle Process".
If you have an item on the list taking up a large amount of CPU (always using 30% or more, highlight that item and click "End Process").

2nd-
Try a different virus scanner there is NO scanner that can find everything. Some scanners will find stuff that others missed. ALSO, be sure one of the virus scanners you use can scan for spyware and malware. Malwarebytes is a personal favorite of mine. Final note - Make sure your scanner is up to date. Viruses or spyware are very real possibilities for an issue like this.

3rd-
Make sure your virus scanner didn't start scanning while you were playing. Also make sure there are no programs (including windows itself) that are trying to update themselves while you are playing.

4th-
It is possible that your video card has kicked the bucket... I have seen all kinds of symptoms from a dying video card, from low frame rates to spots on the walls in 3D games. In fact I just talked to a friend that had to send his video card in for RMA because it was getting really bad frame rates in a new PC.

I'm doing a Malware Scan now, as of yet it hasn't found anything. I really hope my Video Card hasn't gone out, because I have a laptop, and I don't feel like shipping my computer out for a new one.   Everything seems to be normal on the Processes tab, only 10%/less is being used, and there haven't been any programs running in the backgrounds..

Any more ideas? At all? I really don't wanna ship this out.

If you can get hold of an identical or so card thats known to work fine then swap it out to see if that works any better. If so, you have a duff card.

Dod you know the model of your graphics card?

Its a GeForce GTX 260M.. I think, if thats the right one. :s I'm not too good with computers..

I forgot to put this in, it only lags IN game, start/selection screens run perfectly fine. Not sure if that changes anything or not..

Did updating the drivers change anything in your nvidia control panel? Make sure all your settings are to your liking. Even w/ the FPS drop have you seen a change in video quality? Does your game start out at 50-60fps, then drop to 10-20fps? Does your laptop feel really hot?

First and formost, what games does this occur in? How much RAM is on your system? How well cooled is the system overall?

I updated the Drivers after it started to go downhill, The game starts out with low FPS and stays there, seems to be the same way with every one i've tried.. I have 4GB of RAM, and my system seems pretty cooled at all times.

also... you say you where playing with your freinds ? are you talking about online gaming only (that could be a different issue entirely) ? or it is the same for single player games ? is it just one game, or every game you play ?

It's every game I play. Online/offline. The loading screens are perfectly fine, the second it gets INTO the game, it gets insanely choppy and framerate goes to hell & stays. I'm out of ideas..

it might be worth checking the gpu temps while you play, and check the clock frequencys to make sure they are what you expect. GPU-Z will help you do this.

I've checked them, they seem to be perfectly fine..

Gpu Clock: 550MHz - Memory: 950MHz - Shader: 1350MHz
Default Clock: 550MHz - Memory: 950MHz - Shader 1350MHz

Anything else, as a note. I downloaded Directx 11 last night, and my games ran perfectly all night. I turned on my laptop this morning and the framerate was back to its 10-15 average. Does this give any new ideas for things to try?

I really appreciate the time you guys are taking to help me.  

So this is a laptop?

1: List complete system specs
2: Check CPU temp in game; could just be overheating.

I know it's not overheating because it runs the same whether I just turned it on, or its been on for hours. As I said, I downloaded directx(It was running bad before, that's why I downloaded it.) and it ran perfectly untill I turned it off, then it went downhill again.  

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Alienware
System Model M15x
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GHz, 1597 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Alienware A00, 03/09/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.99 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.17 GB
Total Virtual Memory 7.98 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.78 GB
Page File Space 3.99 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Are these the specs? I'm not too good with computers.

Downloading DX11 doesn't do ANYTHING, your GTX 260M only supports up to DX10.
Right now only ATI's 5000 series support DX11 in laptops.

I know it doesn't do anything. But it did. It ran perfectly fine after I downloaded it. So.. Make of that what you will, I suppose.  
After I downloaded it, my games litterally started running at 60 FPS again, so something obviously happened.  

Go into control panel, find Power Options. Then set it to High Performance while plugged in. Just want to eliminate any chance of throttling.

Done and done. Still lagging though :s Anymore idea's? The Directx thing just confused the hell out of me..