At http://fsinsider.com/About/Learning-Center-Support/Support/Troubleshooting-Basic..., about 2/3 of the way down, under "To perform a clean boot on Windows XP" the recommended procedure seems to work reasonably well.  My computer has "only" (sheesh!) 512MB of DRAM.

My concern is that following this procedure turns off the anti-virus software while leaving the system connected to the internet.  Does not that potentially expose the system to threats?  FSX does not need to have access to the internet while running, but it does prevent news from being displayed.

Are there other and perhaps better recommendations for running FSX on such a system?

Thanks.

Thomas

There is a very thick line between an antivirus software and a firewall. The firewalls are the one thing you should NEVER turn off while your connected [I don't care what anyone says].