[ddouglass]

Visualization is only used for music (not karaoke songs) and is set in Media player. So if you do not have it set in there then you don't have it on.

Turning off the Songs Database is only for Importing and Editing and does not affect Search or Playing.

Laptop or desktop computer?

How big is your C: drive and how much free space is on it?

When was the last time you defragmented all the drives?

One thing would be to try lowering the acceleration on your video card, but first let's look at these other things first, before trying this.
Another would be to try a good System clean up program , like System Mechanic.