Doing more research at the moment - I thought it was my graphics cards going bad and I was very bummed that it performed the same with the new one (GTX 750 Ti has made everything else perform better).   Will keep you posted on results.  I ran Hardware Monitor and am seeing both CPU cores are pegged against the stops at 100% so something is making them work way too hard (thus producing low frame rates).

I delete old versions to prevent any conflicts from occurring.   FSX is a fickle little Diva and my dedicated FSX machine is kept clean of unused files.  Delete, reboot, install, reboot .....  keeps files nice and tidy and processor purring along happily.    But you make a valid point I should be moving them to an external drive to save before deleting.   No bonus points for that oversight on my part.    8-)

Just occurred to me it might a bad download.  I have satellite internet which is pretty slow, so I'll get a new download and wipe things clean, reboot and load the new one, leave the extra liveries off and try JUST the default liveries first before putting Delta texture back into FSX.

Moderator:  sorry this is getting off topic and into trouble shooting, won't drag it further away from suggestion box it is supposed to be.