THANK YOU, oldsamer!
I should have thought of that ... but, I also had reservations about how the display would look. I was running at 1680 X 1050. You gave me the courage to try a lower setting.
I have an Acer 22" monitor so I tried 800 X 600 but FSX then told me I had to use a higher resolution - so, I went to 1280 X 768. The display is easier to read (ALL of it!) and I don't seem to have lost too much in the way of detail. In fact I even advanced some of the sliders. In particular I moved the global texture resolution from very low to very high. Now on "average" scenery I'm getting around 10-16 fps which isn't bad for my rig. I haven't tried a complex airport yet but I seldom fly into those anyway.
Thanks again!
Pete 😀