Just d/l this .exe - see the new files on Avsim Home page under FS2004 Utilities,"Game XP FPS fix.Having read thru both the "blurb" on the Avsim page and also the "readme",it just seems a little to good to be trueHas anyone tried it out yet? if so,- with what results?Dave

Hi Dave,Don't do it...be warned! See other posts.Hope I've caught you in time ;)Cheers,Mike

Anything that messes with your system settings without you knowing is bad in my books.Also these things sometimes do not backup your current settings, so if you have trouble your screwed.If something sounds to good to be true, it normally is.Dan.

Absolutely second the above! Read the .htm help file. This program makes improvements by disabling many features of windows XP, among other tweaks. Be advised, many of these things can be done manually, then you can do them one at a time, and know how to revert the changes when something happens you don't like. I have manually disabled some of the system services such as indexing and error reporting because I never use them (I always hit "don't send" when a crash occurs because I don't want to have to dial up). Improvement is negligable.

Thanks for all comments - after posting I had a good in depth look at what it says it does - many of those such as indexing etc I've already done.I think I'll pass.............Thanks guysDave

If you pay attention to the part of the Readme which discusses what actually takes place, you find 3 major headings: Performance, Cosmetic and finally, Services.Performance changes all sound suspiciously like those we've been dealing with since FS2000!! And as most of us are familiar, there is no set pattern for _all_ PC's running FS.Cosmetic changes are discussed within Windows Help files and shouldn't come as any surprise.Finally, the Services. These have been made known since shortly after XP made the scene. They are controversial, but if altered individually, and the system run for awhile to assess their affect(s), they can be a boon; and they are reversable. In other words, no damage _should_ result.....but your mileage may vary when tinkering with these settings. Check the Help file for access to these items.In conclusion, none of this "file" is news to those who are in the habit of taking care and responsibility when settings of their operating system are at stake. And no "*.exe" is required to initiate any of the mentioned alterations.

If you are interested in performance tips, especially for XP and 2000 checkout www.blkviper.com This guy lists all the services in XP and 2000 that can safely be set to manual or disabled, with no ill effect to the OS.

Yes, I've used that site too, Dave, and followed it to the letter. However, I then found I had no internet access so I had to go back through the list and find out how to reconfigure that! So even a page like that should be read with caution!As for GameXP ... suicidal stuff. I couldn't inflict such a thing on my poor unsuspecting system. But I am sure many have taken the plunge as it has the appearance of a winning lottery ticket for FPS. Yeah, right.Mr. Robert Hawk does seem to be a little bit dangerous this week (do you read, Robert, over?) ... his 43MB DC-3 download (yes, 43MB) instructs downloaders to overwrite the default 'plane! You won't be happy if you do ....Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Here's another tool: XpSpeed by Grant Bovee. http://library.avsim.net/zipshow.php?Downl...pe=image%2FjpegGrant Bovee says in the readme:XpSpeed FORCES PREFETCHER OPTIMIZATION by running the "Process idle tasks" command so that games, video editing, and other processor or hard drive intensive tasks run smoother. FOLDER OPERATIONS SCREEN:The Prefetch folder in your Windows directory is used by WinXp to store information on the applications that you always open, to speed up the loading time the next time you open it again.1. THE VIEW Prefetch and temp folders Button, allows you to easily view your Prefetch, Temp, and [user] Temp folders.2. THE CLEAR Prefetch and temp folders Button, allows you to easily clear your Prefetch, Temp, and User Temp folders. PREFETCH SETTINGS SCREEN:WinXp Prefetch is used to speedup the boot and program loading time in WinXp.The WinXp Prefetcher has 4 modes of operation [reboot required]1. Prefetch disabled2. Prefetch applications only3. Prefetch boot only4. Prefetch both applications & boot Process Background [idle] Tasks Button:Use for reduced skipping and dropped frames in games, videos, cd burning etc.Use anytime you desire an uninterrupted data stream. HOW XPSPEED WORKS:During development of WinXp there was written for benchmark developers a dll function for forcing all the idle and background tasks to run immediately.These "idle tasks" are controlled by advapi32.dll using the ProcessIdleTasks command.Advapi32

Mark,I would hope the people would first before attempting to make any changes to any services that run on XP/Win2k. Anything written that automatically makes changes to ones system without knowing whats going on is not only suicide, but the end user deserves the headache. This might seem like a rude remark, but after 15 yrs in IT, and having worked the helpdesk for 3 of those years, the user deserves what he/she does. ;)

Dave I' ve used Blackvipers site already and I think his advice - if followed carefully and with some forethought , is probably the best I've found so far.I was just curious about the GameXP app as it seemed to me that the "pitch" was somewhat over optimistic.I've not been playing with computers as long as you but I've been doing it long enough to know that you never never get something for nothing.Dave

I tried this tool (after setting a system restore point and exporting a copy of my registry!) and it didnt do me any harm. Marginal improvement as I think I have my system tweaked...but no harm. I deleted it after a couple of flights mainly because it didnt represent that much change of over the heavy tweaking I had done myself. Did a system restore, and all is well.Dont think this tool is harmful in itself. Though caution is good.Eric

Same here, no problems, but also no noticable improvements (Ceteris Paribus)Rob "Holland&Holland" de Vries http://www.emotipad.com/emoticons/Flying.gif"To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder"