Actually I think I'll start by copying over the existing AC folder to see what happens. If there's no problem, I'll leave it like it is. If there still is the issue the next step would be to download a clean copy of that. If all that doesn't work I'm going to need a parachute to bail out....
PS: You can simply install another copy of X-Plane into a different directory...if you have a lot of stuff installed in your main X-Plane installation... I like to keep one like that as a "testbed".
Thx for the info, I did as you suggested and my frame rate and flight operations returned, but, I introduced the plugins back in one at a time and saw no errors or decrease in frame rate performance...I then took a turn around the pattern and all is well. The ghost are playing with me.