Thanks Christian, I'm trying Perfect Disk as I'm typing this. A main problem I'm seeing is the difficulty FS2k4 is having with loading textures. When panning around the pauses can be almost unbearable at airports like Shez's KLGA (makes me wish everyone knew the secret FLY TAMPA is using in their scenery design)...Perfect Disk 7 just got done with my C: and drive access performance is much better, now for my FS2k4 D: data drive.... :-)

Thanks Paddy but I can't seem to find the tools you mentioned above... Can you point me to their exact location on the net????

I downloaded a freeware scenery package (ekrk) recently that had the following advice. It seems to work in my case...."NEVER load complex add-on scenery and planes via a saved mode. This is the reason for most common problems with your flight simulator, NOT the Software itself. ALWAYS Load the Default Start mode initially, with the Default Cessna 172 at Seattle airport, and when loading add-on planes, do it from this mode in Cockpit view, Not in External views. Then go to your departure airport. This will save you, and many others from problems.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

I have installed SP2 and DirectX 9.0c and the frame rate in my reference flight remained just the same.What about cleaning the registry with one of the tools around? This might help.Regards,

Dillon,For Game XP (performance booster) go to http://www.theoretica.tk and be sure to download the latest version;For PCI Latency Tool V2.0 see AVSIM thread nr.642 RE: "For those with stutters and want a smoother ride" posted by Gridley (topic ID#425).Good luck!Paddy.

Those registry tools can clean more than what needs to get cleaned, causing major headaches for the unsuspecting user... :-roll I've had to reinstall my ATI drivers thanks to some registry cleaning tools. Others had me contacting Active Camera and other payware developers for now registration keys.Users have to be very careful in what they delete when using registry cleaning tools...

Of course, you have to be careful when using these tools. However I use periodically either RegClean (Microsoft) or EasyCleaner, both at home and in my work, and never had problems. It should be said that with both tools you are able to restore the original situation in case something goes wrong. It never happened with me.

Dillon,For Game XP you'd better search at website http://www.meulie.net/download.php?view.152 and download version 1.4.12.1 straight away from this site.Paddy.

The registry in and of itself won't cause any slowdowns during FS usage, such as stutters. A bloated registry can cause a slowdown at boot, but that's usually about it. I have no problem deleting unnecessary and left over entries, but for sanity's sake- like these guys said make sure your you know what you're doing. I'm not sure I would use an automated tool to do this. Unless you are experience some really bad symptoms that you are positive are related to the registry leave it alone. I have hundreds of programs installed, and I've uninstalled hundreds more- my registry is a bit messy- but it works! I make alot of manual changes to my registry, and those tools would probably screw that up.Any of you guys having these slowdowns, try Perfect Disk, and let me know how it helps. It works great on my machine, and I'm considering using it at work- They have a server 2003/exchange version which I would love to try.On the topic of work, I'm excited for tomorrow- I got to order myself a new work PC (I've been using an old IBM laptop) so I went all out- 3.6Ghz P4, 1 gig of RAM, and an Nvidia 6800GT. I will be "working late" a few nights this week! Now I have to figure out how to sneak my CH Yoke and Pedals into my office :)

Degfragment EVERY day.

I had the same problem with panning around at an airport the audio and video clipped real bad i even removed all my sim stuff and reinstalled it. What fixed it was to remove and reinstall the latest ATI drivers I had recently updated the drivers and I hadnt noticed the differanc right off but the reinstall cured that issue. However i have another i seem to have 2 contrails on some planes and one allways seems to go down to the ground neer the airport im flying at its not a huge problem but it sure isnt normal. I would also like to know how many planes you can add before you have troubles i seem to have 150 or so without a huge problem.