I uninstalled NAV and installed AVG (as someone mentioned in another post). I picked up about 5 FPS on average.I am going to see what other services can be disabled and look at Ken Salter's Auto Start utility next.Barry

Question, when you did have Norton, did you disable autoprotect when you were flying?

Yes, I tried it both ways (autoprotect disabled and enabled). The version is NAV 2002, I am not sure about the latest version. Besides, disabling autoprotect kind of defeats the purpose.AVG if it provides as good protection as NAV, AWESOME. I noticed especially flying through clouds, as this seems to have a significant impact on FPS.I'm sold at this point. But I will try a couple of more flights just to be sure.Barry

Now to go 1 step further and still be free, check out avast! www.avast.comCarmine http://ftp.avsim.com/dcforum/Images/wave.gif

>Now to go 1 step further and still be free, check out avast! >www.avast.comI could not agree more! Avast is a great program and has saved my computer on a couple of occasions. When I first installed it, it found a virus that NAV 2000 failed to detect. Best thing I ever did was getting that Norton bloatware off my machine.

Hi Barry,"I uninstalled NAV and installed AVG (as someone mentioned in another post). I picked up about 5 FPS on average."Congrats! Norton isn't bad stuff, but it certainly isn't "gamer friendly". AVG 7.0 works great as does Avast and NOD32."I am going to see what other services can be disabled and look at Ken Salter's Auto Start utility next."Absolutely. It is the gamer's best friend. Visit Ken's forms here: http://www.kensalter.com/forumCheers,Greg

Hi Barry,Everything Greg said :)Mike :-wave

>I uninstalled NAV and installed AVG (as someone mentioned in>another post). I picked up about 5 FPS on average.>Where can this 'AVG' be found? Also I turn of NAV with FS autostart.Shouldn't I then also gain about 5 FPS?

You can get the free AVG Anti virus from here:http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5Some of you must have done this already but just a thought for you guys: why not just disconnect from your broadband internet connection when you are flying your flight simulator? Just plonk a shortcout to your connection in the Start menu for quick & easy access :)That way you can safely disable memory-hoggers like anti-virus monitoring programs (Auto-Protect etc.) - unless of course you are playing online!

>You can get the free AVG Anti virus from here:>Free? Am I being told that a free antivirus program is better thanNAV which cost money?>Some of you must have done this already but just a thought>for you guys: why not just disconnect from your broadbandWhy should we? I mean as far as I understand there is no risk in just being connected to internet. To get virus you need to open an email attachement. Or do I miss something?

Carmine:I discarded Norton completely some time ago and have been reasonably pleased with AVG. After using Norton for years, the mental light finally came on and I realized that it was not only a waste, but a bit of a negative piece of work for FS9 among other things as well. (Three computers going in my home, and Norton always totally corrupted my daughter's unit). I still have it on my wife's as she only works with Data or simple Internet games. It is such a hassle to get everything removed I will wait until the next update to her unit to snuff Norton.Upon your recommendation, I decided to give Avast a try. One question:Is the only time that avast can be scheduled to run a scan at bootup? I usually am running 24/7 and have scheduled AVG to scan and check for updates every night during the wee hours which is a dandy option IMHO. If this provision is included for avast I am afraid I am overlooking it. Please enlighten me if I am overlooking this option.Thanks:RTH

I dunno,I'm running Norton 2005 and I'm amazed at the number of times it pops up and tells me it's blocked a worm or a trojan horse from getting to my computer...complete with all the details right down to the IP address of the person sending it to me. All of this while I'm on with vatsim with nothing else open aside from the usual instant message programs and the programs needed to fly online.

"All of this while I'm on with vatsim with nothing else open aside from the usual instant message programs and the programs needed to fly online."Cool, now I can say that I've met someone who owns a Cray!Greg

>I mean as far as I understand there is no risk>in just being connected to internet. To get virus you need to>open an email attachement. Or do I miss something?Not necessarily. That's why MS keep issuing patches for various exploits in their system. There are quite a few new worms out there that only require an active internet connection to infect you. And the worm payload can download new viruses, etc.Read somewhere (eWeek?) that the average survival time of an average PC connected directly to the Internet was 15 minutes before being infected by something. Obviously some standard safety items such as firewall, virus scanner, etc. would extend this.

Hi I am using Panda Platinum 7 and this has little or no effect on the performance of FS2004. By the way how does Panda compared to Avast?CheersStelios