daveparr: l would not disagree with anything said above l use a Toshiba Satellite laptop for this game, and l honestly think you have to find a suitable fit between browser and the kind of PC/Laptop you use
I've only played this game on a TS and since the beginning, the key for me has always been to have a dedicated browser. It started out with Iron and evolved to Comodo Dragon.
What I found most useful was to not let Flash update. Those updates play hell with the game initially until stuff gets ironed out. I've had to reinstall CD a couple of time (in TS replacements) and I always have to get rid of the Flash version that comes with the DL and reinstall the one I know works best for me.
As an aside, I play a lot of AS with many different players and whenever I run into someone that's having meter difficulties the first question I ask is if they have the main page open. Invariably they do. Upon closing it their issues subside substantially. WGT should have a banner in the Game Client that says "close the main page!"