First, just to respond to the initial topic, I don't have an issue with anyone complaining that we should've done more to make it clear that FeedDemon is ad-ware (unless you purchase a serial number).  I thought we'd done quite a bit to make that clear, but Marek is correct - we didn't mention that in the software license, and we don't state that on the download page, and perhaps we should've.  I guess what gets me is the tone of the original complaint, which said that I'd "lied down with dogs," and suggested that we were purposely not disclosing the fact that the unlicensed FeedDemon displays ads, that we may be sharing your Google login (we're not - that would be suicide) and automatically subscribing you to feeds even when you chose not to.  I wouldn't have survived for so long in this business if I didn't treat customers with respect, and I get ruffled when someone suggests otherwise.

Anyway...as to the performance issues, this has been a head-scratcher for me.  Most people say that FeedDemon 3.0 is significantly faster than the previous version - especially when synching, and especially when you're subscribed to a lot of feeds.  But I have heard from some customers who say it's slower, and these suggestions seem to speed things up:

• Compact FeedDemon's database after converting to Google Reader sync (File > Manage Cache > Compact)
• Tell your anti-virus software to exclude FeedDemon's database files (.FDB)
• Turn off page transitions (Tools > Options > Appearance)
• Let the cleanup wizard remove older items

BTW, FeedDemon already sends sync requests in batches, and it does so in background threads to keep the UI responsive.

Thanks, Darwin.  I would, of course, recommend that you give TopStyle a try :)