AlacrityPC is the sequel to FSAutoStart.I have had the pleasure to help beta testing this fantastic product and the only thing I can say is THANKS KEN.Just to give you an idea, here is the result I get with Vista Ultimate x64 and 4 Gigs of RAM: 3.57 free Gigs!!!(with antivirus and firewalk running!)http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/6117/73647200ry8.jpgGo and get it.You Sim experience will never be the same.Available for XP/Vista, 32&64 bits.http://www.alacritypc.com/

Great news !Up to now I always used Fsautostart with Xp and Vista.Does this mean that Ken is back ?

David,Can you give people a primer on why Alacrity PC will make your simming experience better?Assuming one has enough free RAM to run FSX, will AlacrityPC have much of an effect on frame rates, seeing as how FSX is CPU-dependent?What was your own experience?

Well, closing services and programs frees RAM but also relieves the CPU(s) of a heavy OS burden.My experience is clear: the sim runs much smoother and there is a significant increase of fps (about 15 or 20%).I assume that Vista will really take advantage of this tool more than XP because of the ressources needed by the OS.

I would love to use this programme as I have downloaded it, but I have no idea what I am doing ! I clicked on Vista profile/ start. It ran until notepad appeared. Didnt know what I was supposed to do then. Also how do I know what I can switch off under the headings Action=Nothing.Can I just switch everything shown to STOP and then go fly?The website FAQ says that Alacrity doesnt show any service or program that will stop the PC working etc, but I see things like "This will greatly reduce your security" when I mouse over the Service title, and little frighteners like that!Anyone help me?Appreciated as always.

The explanations on the website are very clear, aren't they? 1) Notepad appears by default.But you can change it to whatever exe you wish.The best is to remove Notepad from Vista's profile, create an inherited profile called FSX and in the AUTOSTART tab put FSX.exe as a monitored program.Then you drag and drop this FSX profile to your desktop as a shortcut.When you'll press the shortcut, AlacrityPC will close all services and programs it does for the Vista profile and instead of Notepad it will launch FSX.At the end of your FSX session, just close FSX and that will restore your computer to its normal situation.2) If you want to keep your desktop toolbar, just uncheck the "Shutdown/restart Windows shell/Desktop check box.3) You can also ask the tool to close other programs you don't need during your flight in the PROGRAM tab. It is quite easy to know which program you don't use during your FSX session. To close Services that are not closed by default, just read the "View info about" (right click on every running service) and if you are not sure, don't close them.Hope it helps.

Thanks for the heads up :-) /Ulf B

Early days & I've only tried it on my less powerful PC; but ...Heavens above, this is astonishing! I've followed David's instructions and also set the priority for FSX to "high" (or whatever it is called) and my framerates have gone through the roof - by which I mean they have increased by about 40%, possibly more.TimEDIT: although after I returned to the Sim having typed this excited little message, the framerates were back down to "normal" levels again. Hmmm: let's try again ...

The program is extremely valuable, especially in Vista. It's easily configured to shut down anything but essential services. Look through the Services tab and see if there aren't some others that you can close. There won't be any damage done as the program will restart anything you ask it to.Some services will not shut down as they have dependencies in other services. The logfile will show you these and you can make changes appropriately.Regards,Jim Karn

Hi all,I've fiddled around a while with AlacrityPC and it's fantastic donationware. So much better than FSAutostart. A must have, especially if you run Vista. And don't forget to make a donation if you appreciate the AlacrityPC and have a couple of bucks over.Ulf B :-)

Well for me on XP - it flat crashes with an error . Tried installing it twice, once where I wanted it and once at the default. Selected default XP profile and clicked start...Get 5 lines of startup followed by a loud beep - First error line:PM:error: Unhandled exception - Category does not exist.Followed by a stack trace and finally "press enter to continue...." and then it shuts down.Back to beta one......................VicQ6600 G0 CPU 2.4 o/c 3.65Evga 680i A1 with P31 BIOS 2G XP2-8500 DDR2 1066FSB Mushkin 996535 RAM 5-5-4-12-2T320G 7200 HD partitioned for XP/Vista/Programs 2 - 74G Raptors in RAID0 500G 7200 HD for backup SATA DVD burner Evga 8800GTS 640 PCIx 169.13 betaKandalf LCS case w/ built in liquid cooling 850W Thermaltake power supplyVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-supporter-sigbanner.jpg

Hi,Well, I must be snakebit because this program has been a nightmare for me today.I downloaded and installed the program with no problem.When I tried to run the program it would go through the process of stopping services etc, the FSX opening screen would flash on for about a second and then go off. The stopped processes then restarted and everything was back to where I started. Tried this several times but to no avail. Never could load FSX. Uninstalled the program (Alicrity) and then the fun began.When I tried to run FSX, I would get a fatal error. Could not fix it. Went through the repair function on the install disc. No go. Went through system restore. No go.Finally used my Acronis backup program to get FSX working again. I thought that would be the end of it but when I went to defrag my HD, (I use Ultimate Defrag) it showed that my HD was completly fragmented. Not even close to how I have it and I defrag daily. So after about a 2 hour defrag to get everything back to normal all is working ok again. I'm afraid to try to use AlacrityPC again because of this trauma. I would appreciate any guidance or suggestions. I am using Vista 32.Thanks.Jim

For anyone that has "an issue" with Alacrity here is the link to Ken's AlacrityPC forum: http://kensalter.com/forum/index.php?board=5.0 *Ken has been very quick to respond to issues as they arise.*I would advise posting the issue there. Also, there is a .log file that is easily accessed: goto the profile you used... there is a button on the Info Tab to copy the .log file to the Clipboard. You might consider attaching that along with the post (or saving a .jpg pic of the Error Screen if the .log file appears "normal").Hth's and you get it sorted. Rob O.

I had the "the process of stopping services etc, the FSX opening screen would flash on for about a second and then go off. The stopped processes then restarted and everything was back to where I started. Tried this several times but to no avail. Never could load FSX." situation too.I went in and customized a few entries and that took care of it.However, due to a bug in an add in I added tonight-the sim crashed..now I was in trouble. Only way to get out was to soft restart the computer-then things like my wallpaper had to be redone.Not a biggy-but it appears a crash will cause a little trouble.Vista 32 here also.Still a fantastic program!http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/1b5baf...b9f427f694g.jpgMy blog:http://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

Hey Geofa...Were they certain Services that you "Set Action to..." from "Stop Then Restart" to "Nothing"?Btw, this was what I was going to suggest for Jim to do... actually start with a "New Profile" and start adding back Services one at a time and test, but then thought maybe better to post on the Alacrity Forum the .log and see what Ken says.Fwiw, I have x64 XP and have had no issues with "either" default profile. And yes I agree too that Alacrity is a Fantastic utility. :-DRob