Thank you for the replies... 
I have decided to built a new VM with OUT the 2012 base OS... I hate it.. 
IT has bothered me that when I run...

There are three xp_cmd's 

EXEC master..xp_dirtree @Directory, 10, 1
EXEC master.dbo.xp_cmdshell @Cmd;  (@cmd does a rename)
EXEC master.dbo.xp_cmdshell @Cmd;  (@cmd does a file copy)

I added a...

ANY progress on this issue?

We are seeing similar performance issues when connecting to oracle from sql server using the oracle oledb driver from oracle. Did NETMON traces as well...

is there a way to use what I have and add the extensions? or do I have to use the $50 deal? Does it come with the extensions...