I recently brought a rare graphics problem to Captain Sim's attention, and I would like to shed a little more light on the situation. The "graphics pole" seems to be inconsistent, as the right conditions on the same computer that was having it make it go away. Upon a little more research and flying, I ran into a new problem. When landing, FSX will stop responding for up to 10 seconds about 2 seconds after the tires chirp. I tried different settings (i.e. On Vatsim, Off Vatsim, Full Screen, Windowed) and it happened with all those settings. When I turned off my Antivirus (in this case, Norton 360) it stopped.  haven't recently experienced any more graphics errors after rebuilding my FSX configs once again (the start ->search -> %appdata%\Microsoft\FSX folder making sure to back the dll.xml and exe.xml.) and the Documents\Microsoft Flight Simulator X Files\logbook.bin. If you're not into doing FSX missions or using the built in time log, rebuilding this file can every so often prevent fsx freezes/crashes

So, I also recently began to experience FSX instability (not related to any CS addon, just a fragmented hard drive). I ran a program called UltraDefrag and had it optimize my hard drive, which repositions the files on the physical drive (won't affect electronic file names and locations, it's a great thing to do) and FSX began to run well again.

The bottom line is -
-Disable your antivirus when running FSX EVERYTIME to prevent FSX crashes/freezes
-Use a good defrag program (either free or pay) to defrag and optimize your hard drive. Defragging I would do once a week (leave it running overnight) and optimization is okay every couple of months. That can take a while depending on your hard drive space and how fragmented it is
-Delete and rebuild your FSX roaming folder (%appdata%\Microsoft\FSX making sure to back up the dll.xml and exe.xml to save your addons. Just put them back in the same folder after deleting it and running fsx)
and your Computer and FSX should run smoother, faster, and without errors.

My System Specs for Informational Purposes


(EDIT) Sorry about the double signature folks, it was an "oops"

[quote author=TurbofanDude link=1296077599/0#0 date=1296077597]I recently brought a rare graphics problem  (i.e. On Vatsim, Off Vatsim, Full Screen, Windowed) and it happened with all those settings. [b]When I turned off my Antivirus (in this case, Norton 360) it stoppedquote]

Collin,
Yes, its well known any antivirus active will slow any game or program. But specially Norton, what a mess...why do you use Norton? its such a nuisance, heavy, slow, messing and active in all processes, I thought people had stopped using Norton in the 90s, since there are many more efficient solutions today :)

Another thing: I believe you cant "disable" Norton, impossible. You press ctrl-alt-del and you can always check it is still there, in memory. The only wasy to disble is a complete UNINSTALL.

Anyway, using Gamebooster is also good, it will terminate all the processes you dont need to fly, and after back on.

Ctrl-alt-del will also show active processes in system (XP) and I usually terminate manually any which is taking too muche memory and not essential.

I actually find it to be a good antivirus. It works well for me. With N360 you can right click the norton icon in the taskbar and go to disable Sonar, disable autoprotect, and enable silent mode or something to that effect. I've actually used gamebooster, and with the amount of tweaking and optimization  I've already done on my computer, it proved useless.

Norton and games dont mix, they never did.
Norton takes also your freedom of choice, takes control of your PC.
If you think by using silent mode, etc..thats what Norton wants you to believe.
Your game will be always 10% or more slower because of Norton.

But the decision is yours, check these experiences from serious gamers:

http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=72231

Like I said sir, to be perfectly honest, I'm really not that worried. I've run it with and without it, so, if I get a chance later tonight, maybe I'll give it a try, but please let's not turn this into a Norton bashing. I read the post, and I will try Kaspersky, see if that's any better. If seems that Norton isn't so good after all, but for now, all seems well. Thanks for your concern.

The latest version of Norton anti-virus is probably its best. No where near the system hog that Norton anti-virus had back in the early 2000's. That said , I use though Avast Free. With Avast I haven't been affected by a virus in nearly 2 years, its not a resource hog and it has never interfered with the running of games or the installation of programs and games.

Mark

Well, I'll think I'll stick with Norton for now. Like Markoz said, it's better now than it was, and I've yet to be attacked by something Norton didn't block, so, I'm not really in the mood to change antivirus. Thanks for the suggestions though. I guess my whole post here was a waste of time then huh.

TurbofanDude wrote on Jan 27^th, 2011 at 11:58am:

I guess my whole post here was a waste of time then huh.

Not at all Collin!

It "could be" an issue with Norton 360. I don't own/use that so I can't verify your findings. Others, who do use Norton 360, could benefit from your findings. So thank you for sharing them. ;)

Mark

Thanks Markoz, I added a poll to see what kind of support I should focus on.

Hi Collin.

You are only giving yourself a difficult time (and gray hairs while you are still young) if you use a Poll(s) to find out if a Topic or a Reply Post is helpful or not. It could be days or even weeks down the track before someone comes in and says "Hey! Thank you for that. It fixed my problem". Just because some people don't like Norton Anti-virus, is NOT a reason to say that the information must be useless. Move on to helping with other problems and don't worry about this topic.

If you feel you want to discuss something with me or ask for my advise. My email link is down there. Feel free to contact me.

NEXT! ;)

Mark

Thanks for your work, Collin.
Every work is useful here, even if it turns out to be less amazing than one initially thought.

Ok, you could use small font letters on the thread title next time or so  :P, but your investigations are always appreciated by the folks reading through the forums I think.

Only completely silent members don't offer new knowledge and findings, all others do.

Thanks, and I think I got how this works now. As you see I've removed the pole. As well, sorry about the double signature. I'm not the self centered, it was just a signature/type mistake. I made the sig after I typed this.


I really appreciate all the advice guys, I promise I'll put it to good use!