I think I already know the answer (and it's going to cost me for a new computer) but, the AFPD (ver. 1.8.0.9) received today loaded fine. Dongle installed. Locks up my system when trying to run. I get the initial yellow and blue startup screen, then a window opens behind it, immediately followed by the page fault/program termination message from Windows. At this point the system locks up and requires a reset to restart. Downloaded the update (ver. 1.8.0.17 - this numbering didn't make any sense to me relative to the S/W ver number, but that's another problem) and it installed fine. System still locks up when trying to start AFPD. Found an update for my video driver at the Nvidea site and installed it. Same result.
The system is far fom new: 1 Ghz Pentium III, 512 MB RAM, NVidea DDR GeForce 256 4X AGP Video card, SoundBlaster Live Audio. System runs RealFlight G2 perfectly (uninstalled before installing AFPD.)
To my initial comment, you all are going to tell me the Video Card doesn't cut it and needs to be replaced, right? That means new computer to me, since I can't see putting a hot card into this tired machine.
Thanks in advance for the responses.

you really dont need a new computer although a new one could make the sim look much better with the right setup. You have an AGP slot on your computer so all you really need is a newer video card and you shouldn't have any problem running the sim.

I have a video card that doesn't even meet the minimum requirements and i can still run AFPD....i get about 80 FPS at 800x600 resolution

I don't know if this will help you but I had a simular problem with a new computer and I updated my sound card drivers to correct it. Hope it helps. You system sounds like it should run it OK.
Jim