hello Paul,

> you also need mfc71.dll

as I said to Alan, it is already present in my system32 directory.

> However, iirc you said that the applet was visible in
> Classic view but not in XP view. In that case the DLL
> is probably already present.

yes, precisely.

> Another thing: if you locate the applet via the Explorer and
> double-click on it, does it work?

yes, it works perfectly.

> Another other thing: the applet that ships with Firebird 1.5
> is fully usable with Firebird 2.0 (the only change is that it
> formally requires newer MS DLLs). You could copy it to your
> system dir (under a modified name so as not to overwrite the
> 2.0 applet), see if it shows up in the Control Panel, etc.

useless, because also 1.5.3 installation didn't show the FB applet (1.5.3)
in XP view, but only in classic view. At this point I suspect something has
broken in the OS (registry).

Thanks
Salvatore