MS on a Windoze machine suffers a lag problem when opening files if there are a lot of items on the users desktop; collecting all the unused icons and placing them in a new folder on the desktop doesn't always help either, the total number of items must be reduced. Is this the same for your installation? wabbit [:D]

After several conversations with tech support and a number of hours investigating MS and Downloader I have concluded the time delay I see is due to the way using the "OPEN" command is built into the software and a delay occurs on PC machines too, but is more obvious in Mac virtual PC. It is an inconvenience, but other wise I am successfully using MS 11 and all the features seem to work. I have developed my own custom Expert Candlestick Advisor optimized with many runs of Enhanced System tester to use several indicators to pick major market trend change candle patterns and plot buy and sell arrows. Now that this system is working there is little need for the Open command and I can scan through 20 SmartCharts for buy/sell signals at end of day in a total 15 seconds. Express Download bypasses the open box delay and updates my data in 5 seconds at EOD. I believe the delay is due to MS not using Windows 7 conventions for associating the file extension with the exe program. If you go to Control Panel-Default Programs and choose "associate a file type with a program" and scan down the extension list for .dat you see that is the Metastock file extension. However in my Mac virtual PC the associated program is Adobe Reader. In a conversation with tech support his PC showed "Windows Media Player" as the default exe application to open the file. An error occurs if you try to open .dat with either of these two programs. Metastock is non-standard here. These can not be edited to read Metastock or Downloader. I think Windows requires the file extension to match the exe program in the registry or there may be issues, but I will leave that to more expert Windows users. The writers of the Parallels computer code have to assume the user's Windows programs follow Microsoft's methods, so this could be the issue with conflicts between Parallels and Metastock. I have a dozen other Windows programs in Parallels with no issues. My hypothesis is that this section of the MS program uses non standard lists to associate the .dat file with the search criteria selected in the open box options and this takes time. I have recommended that Equis rewrite this front end to follow Windows 7 protocols for associating the exe program with the file extensions, and I think a substantial speed improvement is possible . During this 1 minute delay before the "OPEN" box appears , I see my I7 intel processor is 97% idle. using only 3% of its processing power. Surely this initial populating the open box could be done more efficiently by rewriting this section of code. Since I have used Metastock for many years this section has not changed noticeably, and possibly dates to earlier limitations on Windows file name length that no longer apply- just a guess. Discussion or corrections of my hypothesis are more than welcome. All in All Metastock is still an outstanding program and I am pleased to get it working along with Schwab's StreetSmart Pro trading program concurrently in the same Virtual PC on the Mac. I do email and web work on the Mac for security reasons along with editing 1 hour documentary DVDs and extensive Photoshop work on the Mac, and I can work on both the Mac and monitor my Stock market simultaneously on the same Mac monitor. One important install note about Parallels. I installed Windows 7 in Boot Camp and THEN used the BOOTCAMP partition as the virtual PC in Parallels. I did not test the option to install Windows directly in Parallels.