The best example I know to give you is to take one of the standard pushpin image files, rename it, and import it as a custom symbol.
You can download the standard pushpins from Microsoft at:

[url] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en [url]


Using the EXACT SAME SYMBOL imported as a custom symbol slows down performance dramatically when large sets of pushpins are used (in my case 15,000 or so). This true on the 5 high end/up to date computers I've tested it on.

I've been unable to find the actual pushpins that the application uses in my program files directory which leads me to believe that the standard symbols are built in to the application in some special way. I'm hoping that someone has had this problem before and figured out a way to slip a home made pushpin into the application bundle.