I tried FS with my normal setup, and after applying this tweak. My normal setup is already tweaked to only run the services and programs I need but I thought it would still be interesting to see how much I gain by disabling EVERYTHING. I have a saved flight in a very complex scenery area that I use to benchmark new drivers, hardware etc. Here are my results:Normal setup: 16.5 FPSAll disabled: 16.6 FPSI'd rather have my handy tools and tray icons running than gaining .1 FPS.Zevious Zoquis - I think you can read what each service does at the BlackViper site. There's also a brief description for each service in the applet you use to disable/enable services. Generally, they are for things like certain network features, CD-Writing, error reporting, peripherals etc. Many drivers for peripherals and hardware also install a few services. Some disk managing tools also use services to keep logs or schedule operations.Microsoft's OS's are made to work on ALL systems. It needs to work with all kinds of networks and peripherals and the OS is used for a lot of thing - gaming, media production, network servers...all sorts of things. That's why Microsoft had to enable so many services by default - to make sure their OS will always work. Generally, people are not expected to know which services they need to enable, so to be on the safe side, MS enabled them all. Generally, you only need very few of them.With Linux, it's completely different. Most Linux distributions are very minimalistic by default, and you compile only the things you need into the kernel or as kernel modules. The basic Slackware installation doesn't even contain ACPI support. This works well in the Linux communities, because those users know enough to determine what they need and don't need.

Hi Ken,Just installed your program, did not do a check on frames yet, but there are a couple of questions which I see have at least been mentioned.First, other than OneTinSoulder's list, what services must be on all the time. I understand this may be hard depending on system configuration, but is there a minimum list. There is a mention of this BlackViper list of services, where is that?Second question, when you exit FS with your program, and you have configured FSAutostart to shutdown/restart programs, why must restart the OS? Is there a way when FS exits, that all shutdown programs can be made to restart automatic?Thanks Nice little tweak program.Bob Johnson

Oh yeah, I understand all that. But like I said, I do alot of stuff on the ol' PC and everything seems to be running just like always with ALL the services disabled. But I'm sure there are reasons they are there...Personally, I hate tray icons. If I see anything hanging around down there I immediately look for a way to get rid of it. :)

Hi Bob,I tried FSAutostart this morning and didn't have the system restart issue you're talking about. I just set what services and programs I wanted FSAutostart to terminate (and resume when I was done flying) and then started FS using the "Start" button on the FSAutostart main screen. Once I quite FS, FSAutostart restarted all the things it had stopped, all without having to reboot. It took less than a minute to get back to where I was before I flew. Perhaps there's something particular about something you turned off that caused you to have to restart your computer... I don't think it's supposed to work that way by default.thanks,

Lots of thanks John, just read it. I've been cleaning most programs manually before I start FS9. The tip you gave us will make it much easyier and will probably open up even more resources.Howard

I've been using custom configurations for ages, ever since I discovered Custom StartUp. I didn't write this and I don't make any money from it but it has worked great. I just wish someone had brought this up a couple of weeks ago before the price went up.http://gboban.hypermart.net/csup/

Hi All,First I would like to congratulate Ken for his FSAutoStart application. It does a very good job as is. I am also confident that if Ken can include a memory (page file?) defrag command and a dll unload command this will be a great utility.I got a question for the experts. Pending a better solution the MSconfig tweak is also a good way to gain a few fps. Now here is the question: is there a possibility to save a configuration or better said profile created with the MSconfig tweak and to have it added to boot.ini so that one can choose which configuration (profile) to use to start window xp? I think I am referring to the screen which says something like: Please select operating system to start. How to add a new profile in that screen.Alternatively do you guys know of an application which loads before windows start and from which one can choose which profile to use to start windows XP?.Michael

Ken, I haven't tried FSAutoStart yet (I'm at work) - but can it also do the opposite?I.e. As well as closing services and programs, can it also open some before starting FS and then close then after?e.g. Before starting FS I need some other programs such as TrackIR, VoiceBuddy etc. Can FSAutoStart load these automatically and then launch FS...?Also, anyone have a link to that update MS file - the site page linked just outlines the issue and then says about calling support (unless I'm missing something)Thanks.

Thanks for this great info....Best RegardsBoone,[email protected]"Flying a plane is no different from riding a bicycle. It's just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes."

Just one word of warning, and apologies if this has been mentioned before.If you disable all services and startup items in msconfig, with certain types of joysticks and sound cards, you'll have no sound and no joystick when you start FS9!If you have a USB sound card you may need to enable "plug and play" and also enable Windows Sound. Most joysticks will need "Human Interface Devices" to still be enabled. If you want to change or edit your video configuration you'll still need to have NVCpl and possibly NV Wiz enabled too, otherwise you cannot access display properties.Enabling all the above will not take up much memory and still give you a relatively clean boot with plenty of RAM available for FS9.Cheers,Rob Young

Strange that Rob.I had no trouble using my CH yoke (USB), or any sound or video problems.In fact, I had my PC running on a clean boot all day yesterday (forgot to reset it to normal startup), and it never complained once.I was running Word, accessing the Web, running my music (midi) software etc. with no problems at all.Makes you wonder.

Yes it can.

Yeah, exactly the same situation here. Everything is working perfectly including the USB mouse...

Thanks for the reply.Quick check, which is the latest.FS AutoStartup v1.35 - 21/12/2003orFSAutoStart 1.0 Build 2 - 28/01/2004I take it the latter (because of the date) though it's smaller.Thanks

Well, maybe there's something wrong on my XP system. I ran msconfig, disabled the ini files and disabled services and all start up items. Upon re-booting I started FS9 and there was no sound and no joystick.So I quite Fs9, opened Msconfig and re-enabled plug and play (I have a USB external sound card), Windows Sound (this might not have been necessary) and Human Interface Devices. The last one got my stick working again and the other two (or one of them) got the sound card working again.Perhaps I missed something in the original instructions.Kind Regards,Rob