I know this is system dependent, but have to share this as I know how much frustration I went through. A while back I was having problems with blurries--the scenery would get blurry for no reason and if I refreshed the screen it came back clear. I spent months trying to fix it and tried about every optimization for FS9 that is out there. While it didn't solve my problem, I did learn a lot. Then I did 3 or 4 things, including installing the Intel Application Accelerator, and the blurries went away. I wasn't sure what had fixed it, but didn't really care as it worked. Of course, a few weeks back the blurries came back and I had no idea what I had done to fix them. Then I'm thinking about the new 2nd drive I installed and bingo!, could that be it? I check, and sure enough when I installed the drive XP installed drivers that overwrote the Intel stuff, so I reinstalled it and it works like a charm!!!!!! So that was it. The Intel stuff is supposed to speed up disk access and optimize at the "system" level.Like I said, it won't work for everyone (especially if don't use intel, hehe) but it obviously enhances performance to some degree and was just the boost I needed. The link is below. http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df...x?ProductID=663Hope this helps someone!billg

Be careful with this! It's only compatible with certain INTEL Chipsets. Looks to be the older chipsets. Be sure to read the readme on the site and make sure you have the appropriate chipset and ATA controllers before attempting to install. It may tell you the hardware is incompatible if you try to install anyway, but I wouldn't bet my system on it!!!USE WITH CAUTION!!!If you do try to install this, whether or not you have the correct hardware, you probably should create a system restore point prior, just in case!!

I doubt even a system restore would help...it sounds like this software is changing the way the OS (or maybe the CPU) interfaces with the harddrive, and harddrives do have a reputation of...um...blowing up frequently :-lol.I don't even have an option to use it since I have an AMD CPU but if I could, I wouldn't use it too be honest (unless the blurries were really making me desperate I suppose).

>I doubt even a system restore would help...it sounds like>this software is changing the way the OS (or maybe the CPU)>interfaces with the harddrive, and harddrives do have a>reputation of...um...blowing up frequently :-lol.I guess that was tongue in cheek? HD's rarely blow up, crash, or become irreversibly corrupted. I have used IAA in a multitude of systems with chipsets supported, and have never had a problem. Here's what it can do for supported chipsets:The Intel

Beyond that Noel, there's also the often overlooked factor of Hard Drive performance as it relates to MSFS. MSFS moves huge amounts of data to and from the hard drive. Any bottleneck there will have an adverse effect on the sim's performance. My MB is too old to support the Intel package, but I've seen it mentioned before, although not in conjunction with MSFS.-John

This is not "my" tweak, I've seen it posted before with reference to FS9, and should have mentioned that. My point was that this tweak alone made a big difference on my system. I've tried it before, but in conjunction with other tweaks so I didn't notice the dramatic difference it made. As with all tweaks, caution is advised, but it's on the Intel website and has been there for years--I'm pretty sure they'd take it down if there were really adverse effects. Anyway, just sharing my joy at getting rid of the blurries. :-)billg

>I guess that was tongue in cheek? HD's rarely blow up, crash, or >become irreversibly corrupted. I have used IAA in a multitude of >systems with chipsets supported, and have never had a problem.Well I guess I was being a little tongue in cheek, but the truth of the matter is if your computer ever has a hardware problem, 9 times out of 10 it is going to be the harddrive. I'm glad you've managed to dodge the proverbial bullet but I have plenty of harddrive horror stories to share...and I would suggest backing up your data frequently.Anyway I may have been a little alarmist about the aformentioned software, but I generally avoid anything that claims to magically improve performance (without any obvious tradeoff). My thinking is that if there were a way to improve performance, it would already be incorporated into the hardware/OS.

>Like I said, it won't work for everyoneYep...I've tried this before, and then, as now, it made absolutely no difference with FS. (850 chipset.)

>>Anyway I may have been a little alarmist about the>aformentioned software, but I generally avoid anything that>claims to magically improve performance (without any obvious>tradeoff). My thinking is that if there were a way to improve>performance, it would already be incorporated into the>hardware/OS.Intel did not do it that way. They instead recommended system builders run the Intel App Accelerator as a normal part of the process. Just like installing video drivers--your video card will run with a generic (VGA) driver--but with a proper driver it will unlock its potential.In years past, when building systems the IAA was one of the first things to be run on the new build.This is pretty much similar to what the nForce drivers do for the nForce chipset.I am not sure if Intel still recommends the IAA for the newest hardware. They probably do, but I am not into the Intel scene right now.Rhett