Sofar the fastest way ro run Fractint for me is the XP Dos. Now I tested a fast bootstick: The same image generated with XP Dos needed 5 to 7 minutes pending other running processes. With the bootstick it needed 1 min 37sec !! I found out how you can use the bootstick like a ssd under xp: sstools.ini and fractint.cfg are located inside the fractint folder. SStools path is the harddisk letter: formulafile=l:\fracti~1\frm\mfr_13.frm for use as a bootstick sstoolsini and fractint.cfg are located outside the fractint folder: formulafile=C:\fracti~1\frm\mfr_13.frm. So if you want to switch between dos and windows use the first option and avoid to have two separate fractint folders with different contents. Petta