First of all, let me make one point clear: Skyrim is the first game I've purchused for PC, and I do not claim to be very knowledgable with regard to how PC gaming is best played out. Therefore, if I'm missing crucial knowledge/information, please be nice about telling me about it.

Now, I have very recently purchused my copy of Skyrim (within this month of December), and have attempted for the past two days to resolve an issue of constant lag. The lag occurs whenever I initiate actual gameplay, therefore disclusing the in-game menu and main menu. The lag is also visible, to an extent, on the game loading screen. I would estimate that the gameplay is displayed at roughly 3-7 FPS, at most.

I haven't just decided to make a post without trying a few fixes, which have included adjusting in-game shadow and texture quality, adjusting my computer's visual performance to one that adjusts for 'best performance', initiating a defragmentation, utilising GameBooster technology and changing small aspects of the game file.

These are the basics of what I'm running this game on:
Dell Inspiron 1545
Processor: Intel? Celeron? CPU 900 @ 2.20GHz 2.19GHz
RAM: 4.00 GB
System type: 64-bit Operating System

I'm currently using Windows 7, and am running the game directly from Steam.

From what I've read, there have been several issues relating to lag already posted, however it didn't appear that any post reflected the severity of the amount of lag that I have been dealing with. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I certainly hope that I am in this case. If anyone is able to provide any form of feedback to my circumstance, it would be much appreciated. This is a game I've been looking forward to playing on PC, and I'd like to start the new year off with a game that is actually playable. Cheers.