For years I have shut down all services/programs/processes but the bare essentials when running FS. I have noticed that with FSX, certain services seem to be needed that were not needed in prior versions. Now, have not systematically investigated this, but it seems that many of the services related to networking are being used by FSX. I have a LAN setup and so have these services running. If I shut them all down, weird things happen--controllers respond poorly or stop responding, stutters, and even hangups in loading.FSX runs better if I leave these services running. Might this have something to do with SimConnect? Again, I have not investigated this carefully to discover just what services have the most effect but was wondering if anyone else noticed this. Maybe adjusting networking variables like TCP/IP and others would yield a new avenue of tweaks.Randall

I have not noticed this at all. Brfore starting the sim, I take thr sim PC out of my network and use FS AutoStart to stop everything that will stop (I'll supply a list of what is stopped, if you want to see it). I don't have any problems with stutters or hangups or CH Yoke and Pedals (USB).After reading your post, I'll pay closer attention and report back I I see any differences. I have a profile that keeps the networking up and I'll run it both ways. Thanks for the heads-up. R-

Hm I have not noticed this being any different with FSX than it was with FS2004. I have my WinXP install pared down to 23 running services and that's a mighty clean boot. Since you mention it though I will pay more attn to services. But I can't imagine enabling extra services will positively impact FSX...that runs counter to all logical thinking...unless as you say the service is in fact needed by FSX. But if it's needed, then I assume FSX wouldn't run without it. So I must have it right with my running services, since I have no problems with FSX other than fps near big cities.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2530 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8, WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Thanks for the replies. Of course, it could just be something going on with my system unrelated to FSX. FSX runs pretty well on my system away from cities but I have noticed this difference. I'll investigate a little more.Thanks again.Randall

>For years I have shut down all services/programs/processes>but the bare essentials when running FS. I have noticed that>with FSX, certain services seem to be needed that were not>needed in prior versions. Now, have not systematically>investigated this, but it seems that many of the services>related to networking are being used by FSX. I have a LAN>setup and so have these services running. If I shut them all>down, weird things happen--controllers respond poorly or stop>responding, stutters, and even hangups in loading.>>FSX runs better if I leave these services running. Might this>have something to do with SimConnect? Again, I have not>investigated this carefully to discover just what services>have the most effect but was wondering if anyone else noticed>this. Maybe adjusting networking variables like TCP/IP and>others would yield a new avenue of tweaks.>>RandallSimConnect does us TCP/IP as a transport layer. It may cause issues if you have certain RPC or networking services turned off, but I haven't tried it myself.

>I have not noticed this at all. Brfore starting the sim, I>take thr sim PC out of my network and use FS AutoStart to stop>everything that will stop (I'll supply a list of what is>stopped, if you want to see it). I don't have any problems>with stutters or hangups or CH Yoke and Pedals (USB).>>After reading your post, I'll pay closer attention and report>back I I see any differences. I have a profile that keeps the>networking up and I'll run it both ways. Thanks for the>heads-up. R->Yes, it's interesting to see your list of stopped services!

FSX uses code signing for some of the gauge DLLs and therefore may require the cryptographic services running (don't know the exact service names though).Christian

Responses seem to indicate that indeed FSX uses WinXP services in ways previous versions have not. Interesting. Thanks.Randall

Hi Randall:Thanks for raising this important question!:-)I would be very interested in reading more about your discoveries with what XP "Services" seem to be minimum requirements for XP when FSX is running with and without SimConnect actively in use.Will you be following up with further info on such things here?GaryGB

Haven't had time to do much flying of late, let alone investigating. I am still very curious about this and intend to experiment a little more. Don't wait for me, though. Try it out yourself and see which services, on or off, seem to effect FSX. Be sure to post any discoveries. Randall

I stand corrected. Today I downloaded and installed FSUIPC Ver4.06. Pete's readme mentions the necessitity of TCP/IP and its dependencies in order to use the new version of FSUIPC. I tried it using my normal FSX Fsautostart profile (the one I mentioned above that stops every service that will stop) and it took 15 MINUTES for FSX to load. After that, everything was S-L-O-W; it was press a button and wait.Next, I took the same profile and reenables all of the services. No other changes, it still stops some programs, I just let all of the services start now. That fixed the problem, everything is working just as fast as before I installed FSUIPC.So obviously, everyone else was right and I was wrong! Like that's ever happened before!So now its off to the Sim Connect forum to see if I can find any quick answers before I start stopping services at random and hoping for the best. If anyone knows what I need to keep running, don't be bashful; I'll take all the help I can get.Oh, I tried stating TCP/IP and some other obvious networking services but I never hit on a combination that worked. Thanks in advance.R-

I went back to WinXP defaults--do an Internet check for default services and then configure your system accordingly. Also, be sure that you properly shut down disabled services by disabling them under the Logon tab.Reference this thread for some good pointers:http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...?num=1163028653 I basically shut down very little services now and FSX seems smoother with slightly higher FPS. RandallP.S. I have also increased PCI Latency to 128 in my Bios which seems to have helped.

I use FS autostart and found a rather weird problem. The click spots in FSX (inlcuding the menus) were displaced 20-30 pixels downwards made it tough to find click spots in VC panels. After much nashing of teeth and hair pulling I traced it back to turning the 'Themes' service off in FS Autostart. Once I enabled the 'Themes' service all click spots returned to normal. Anyone any ideas as to why this should be so?

I've had that happen to me a few times. To fix I would hit to put it into window mode and then maximize the window. Go back to full screen and everything is OK. I never traced it to the Themes service. I usually have that shut off but with all the tweaking I do maybe I turned it on. I'll pay more attention.Again, if it true that the sim works correctly with the Themes service running, it continues to support the idea that FSX uses the services more than prior versions.I wish a member from ACES would chime in on this.Randall

Hi Randall,Thanks for the link above. I started with the list of stopable services in that thread and I'll experiment some more on my own. But I'm back up and flying now with FSUIPC running. Thanks again. R-