I ran ******* Bojote's FSX tweak. One of his recommendations is that I try using an external weather program to set my cloud draw distance. I had Active sky on my last system running FS9 and it was fairly demanding. I realize that I have a little bit better system than I had then, however, the way FSX runs with my present system, I am afraid that I can't stand much of a hit from an external weather program. Can some one direct me to the best weather addon that will not cause such a hit on my system. Being retired and on a fixed income it wouldn't hurt for it to be one of the cheaper ones as long as I can set the cloud draw distance externally.

Cloud draw distance can be set in FS only. What the weather programs can do is limit your maximum visibility, which can then help with framerates. Use 60 miles in FSX and then limit the visibility. Also you can use a replacement cloud set that has a lower resolution.

FSrealWX is free and does what you want