what you are seeking is called "timebased movement".

timebased movement is achieved by measuring the time your last frame
took to render multiplied by the units you want to move per second.

maybe you've got it right anyway, i just don't understand what you mean
by "time it takes for the computer to run through the timer again" so i
thought i'll post just to be sure.

see http://www.devmaster.net/wiki/Timing

hope it helped :D