>Sergey, you are absolutely correct - there is now no time difference. Unfortunately, the time is now the longer of the two times. now:
>
>select lname, fname from table1 into cursor cursor1 nofilter
>
>takes about 4 seconds. without the nofilter, the above statement only took 0.4 seconds.
>
>consistency is great but i'm hoping for consistently good! :-)

It's not just the query. Check the time required to populate your combo box with and without NOFILTER.