Its finally time to upgrade my computer to a Pentium 4 with 512 MB ram and a great video card. I question is...which is the best operating system to use for MSFS 2002. Im currenty using Windows 98, but im having problems running the new PSS Dash 8 with it. I sure could use some suggestions. Thank in advance for your help.Many happy landings,Bob

Windows XP is an excellent all round OS. I think you'll find a lot of satisified users of XP in the forums :)

I've been running XP home since it came out and consider it the best OS I've used. Win95-98 ran slower and slower the longer you had them on your machine. I always did a complete reload about 3 times a year to clean up all the trash the system had collected. My XP has not been reloaded since the original install and it still runs like it did when new. If an application crashes in XP you can close that application and not have to reboot. All in all I'm very satisfied. I tried ME but my computer(homebuilt) wouldn't load it so MS gave me my money back. All my sim software runs very well on XP, very stable.RegardsBill

My Two Cents:I've been running FS2002 on XP for quite a while (since the 1st release candidate of XP) now with very satisfied results. XP is definitely a major upgrade of the OS components for the better; memory management in particular - less leakage from what I have seen.I have the fortune, or misfortune, of experiencing MS OS upgrades as a beta tester and can arguably say that XP is the best OS for FS2002 right now. I've ran it on 98, 98SE, 2000, and XP with the best results coming from XP; stability, performance, etc.Since it looks like you will be upgrading, even a better reason to upgrade, since XP supports newer hardware much better natively than does the aforementioned OS's.My experience tells me that even though bugs continuously surface in every OS released, the latest is generally the greatest, and right now, XP is as stable as it will ever get - security updates aside.Unless you require the use of legacy 'older' versions of software and hardware, you will be better off with XP.

I'd recommend WinXp Bob. Either Home or Pro depending on whether your non-FS needs require the Pro features (FS2002 runs the same with either version of XP). I'm running a P4 at 2.72Ghz and, while Win98SE will always give me a bit better framerate, the hassel-factor just isn't worth it. I just recently added some HDD's and reinstalled everything, but I ran the initial install of XP for over a year and never saw a blue screen. At one point I let the machine run continuously for 63 days without a reboot. Simply amazing. I've never had a problam with FS2002 under XP and I've run most all of the complex add-ons and dense sceneries. Everything works fine.Trip23999 Pixels9999 BytesEdited for PS: The Dash8 works very well indeed with XP.

I think that most critics would be hard pressed to prove that they get a better frame rate in 98 than with a correctly configured XP machine - unnecessary services turned off, optimally configured page file, etc.... especially with newly released hardware (last 12 months). This means you may have to learn a bit about system services, page files, and the registry of XP to get the full potential, but it will offer you a better overall experience... and framerate, than any of it's predecessors. And for the casual user, even without any 'geek-tweaking', XP will outperform 98, ME, and 2000 byte for byte.And who can resist the green rolling hills and mesmerizing sky of the default background??? :):|<<<<>>>

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