John,

Thanks for pointing me to the link where the .NET Framework was previously discussed as being a (or "the") possible culprit. http://amazingcharts.com/ub/ubbthreads.php/topics/33489/Greased_lightning_V_6_0_9#Post33489

After reading all the posts there, I became concerned that some are coming to the conclusion that there are "multiple fixes" to the slowness problem. I can only say that if there are multiple fixes, then I would bet that there are multiple problems, and that one person's fix for their machine won't work as the correct fix for someone else's machine(s).

I already know something quite definitive regarding the under-the-hood source of the problem on ALL of my XP machines (every one of them), and that is what I mentioned at the start: When I ran a packet analyzer (Wireshark) to examine what kind of communications were going on between client and server while the screen was being drawn slower than paint can dry, I saw TOO MANY, just way too many SMB requests spewing out of the client. And this phenomenon could be seen even after the screen was completely painted. After it settles down, if I so much as move the mouse over certain graphical regions of the window content, I see the same bunch of packets spewing across again, and the screen slowly repaints itself again, and I think that this was all due to one simple thing: When I moved the mouse over some particular region, AC wanted to show me a "balloon" at that pixel position. So, even to just draw that balloon, the entire screen had to be repainted, and this need then caused thousands of packets to spew over to the Server.

For anyone who has the means of doing so, it would be cool if you could try the same thing (running a packet analyzer) on one of your "slow" clients right after you click the menu item to show the Rx screen.

Of course there might be various sources for the "slowness" problem, given that different people have posted different solutions that apparently worked for them. But for me, for right now, I am going to assume that all this SMB packet spewing IS the source of MY problem, and possibly the source of the problem for many other people, and that there is really only one legitimate fix: To stop the spewing.

That is the road down which I will continue to travel until something stops me dead in my tracks.

And it would be much to my benefit to know if anyone else sees that their XML file on the server (I believe it's either C:\AmazingCharts.xml or C:\Amazing Charts.xml) is corrupted.
The easiest to way to see the corruption is in a DOS window (a DOS prompt). Just use the "type" command to print the file to the screen. If you see three weird looking characters at the very start of the file, then you will know that you probably have the same problem that I have.

WARNING: Opening that XML file in a text editor gives no conclusive results. Even if the binary characters are there, you will most likely NOT see them in the text editor window. If you have a Linux box or if you have any Unix tools on your Windows machine, you can always use the trusted "Octal Dump" program that has been on Unix since Day One. Just do "od -c <filename>", where <filename> is the precise name of the AmazingCharts.xml file. Or transfer the XML file over to your Unix/Linux box and run the "od -c <filename>" command there.

As I said, the "corruption" always occurs in the first three characters. I even think that they are always identical. I believe that they are always the following, which I have displayed in their various formats (base 10, octal, and hexadecimal)
Decimal: 239 187 191
Octal: 357 273 277
Hex: EF BB BF
Decimal nibbles: [14 15] [11 11] [11 15]

I will try to verify that my claim is true that they are always the same. If so, then this should give a HUGE leg-up for the AC developers in finding the source of the corruption issue.

Well, I will look into this as deeply as I can in the next few days, and of course if I find anything at all interesting and/or promising, I will post it immediately.

Greg (MaxJammer)