Howto What to do with my new Win7

[brett 2,316]

Hi everyone,

I finally broke down and ordered a new laptop from Newegg, my old duel core T3400 just isn't cutting it anymore. All my new addons aren't working very well on it, new A2A aircraft and ORBX scenery's are bringing my fps to a crawl. I realize that laptops aren't the best for FSX but I can't sit at a desk so a laptop is my only option. Add to the fact that I'm not rolling in dough and I ended up with a 800 dollar rig that should at least give me a little bit better ride than the old one. It should allow me to at least half the sliders.(see spec's below)

My main question today is, "What do I need to know about installing FSX into the new rig?

I have heard many different opinions about the best way to do this in Win 7 but nothing diffenitive. Do install in the main folder but disable the security thingee, don't install in the main folder.....goes on and on. Not sure if it's a good idea to not have the secuity thingee on. It's a home computer and not networked anywhere but still. I know everyone's computers work different depending on the setup but is there a latest and greatest way to do the installation of FSX or any other hints that will be helpfull to get the best out of my new purchase?

Do I do a fresh install of FSX and then just put my backup folders back in? I also need to install the SDK, so any info on this will help too. I'm nervous because everything works great now with years of getting it to the way I like, with what I like and it took alot of tweeking to get it to this point. The other side of the coin is that I have tons of gauges and effects that I probably do not even have the aircraft for anymore and I would just be dumping all the old stuff back in.

Are the tweeks that have been around for a few years still applicable?

Acer Aspire V3-571G-9435 Notebook(I have had four Acer laptops in the past and never had any problems with them)

Op Sys=Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

CPU(type)=Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz 3MB L3 Cache

Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.3GHz

GPU(graphic card)=Nvidia Geforce GT 640M Dedicated 2GB Memory

Ram(Memory)=6GB DDR3 (4GB x 1+2GB x 1)

Hard Disks=500GB 5400rpm SATA

Any help, along with links, with this would be much appreciated.

EDIT: old spec's

OpSys=Vista Home Premium 32bit

CPU=Intel Pentium Dual CPU T3400 @2.16HZ 2.17GHz

GPU=Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset 797MB

RAM=2.00 GB

Hard Disk=111GB

[ddavid 149]

Brett -I installed W7 on a quad-core 3 years ago, just after their beta finished. Installed FSX Acceleration straight from the box onto my C drive (Aargh! -Ed). Did the SP-2 thing and that was that. Still going - FSX is a bit slower than it was then, but I've too many aircraft, Saves, Missions, etc. So, my advice is - just do it! Oh, Yes - get an iPad as an extra screen (with your WiFi router).

Good Luck.

Cheers - Dai.

[M31 0]

Hi Brett, agreed with Dai here, just go for it ... I've tried FSX with XP, Vista and Win 7, Win 7 is the best OS for this sim hands down IMHO.

I'd install FSX in a non standard directory though, Perhaps C:\Flightsim\ or whatever takes your fancy, some addons don't like the default install path especially if you have UAC turned on ... I'd just turn off Win 7 UAC if you are the only user of the laptop, instructions on how to do this here ....... regarding this guys comments on anti virus, I use Avast free and its fine, low footprint and virus definitions added regularly.

Win 7 has a slight quirk where you have to manually install "some" scenery to its library, workaround here ..........

There are lots of tweaks you can do for Win 7 performance, but this is straying into the area of personal preference

Enjoy your new laptop

[brett 2,316]

Great, thanks for the info and pep talk guys

Dai, you mention the SP2 thing, doesn't installing Accelleration take care of that or do I still need to add it? I use FSX with SP1&2 added without Accelleration at this point.

I'm glad I can add my backup files after installation. I guess this means I'm going to have to reinstall all the addons again too, bummer Gives me the shivers having to reinstall the ORBX stuff again, took along time to do last time with the instructions the way they are.

I am almost tempted to start from scratch and only install the aircraft and other stuff again as I need it. Once I see a plane I like(almost all of them) I download it, plus scenery's and flightplans and other cool must have stuff and it doesn't take long for things to fill up to bloated proportions. That's even with yearly spring cleaning to an external hard drive. Problems is I hardly use alot of it.

All in good fun

[M31 0]

Great, thanks for the info and pep talk guys

doesn't installing Accelleration take care of that or do I still need to add it? I use FSX with SP1&2 added without Accelleration at this point.

Yep, if you install Acceleration then you don't need to install FSX SP1 and 2.

[brett 2,316]

Thanks Colin That's what I thought.