This issue popped up a while ago. It happened to me as well  as a few people I fly with. I keep my settings on 'Notify' and not 'auto install', yet I had updates installed that I never wanted, including video drivers.

 

After checking to see what the hell was going on, it seems that one of MS updates actually changed my settings to 'AUTO UPDATE" without my knowledge. As soon as I found that I let the others know and sure enough, theirs was changed to.

 

It hasnt happened again since, but keep an eye on those settings!

Turning off automatic updates - yes.

 

Never updating - no. There's a reason that MS publishes updates.

 

This. You don't need the optional updates, but make sure you at least install the important and critical ones. By not installing updates, you're leaving your system exposed via unpatched security holes.

 

Also, keep in mind that your system is at its most vulnerable just after Microsoft has released an update. At this stage, hackers can analyze the update to find out exactly what it patches, and then target systems that have not yet been updated. If you're going to do manual updates, make sure to perform updates on a regular schedule.

 

Finally, even though I have installed all updates, my ntdll.dll file is from the 9th of July 2013, so the file has not been patched recently. Many generic errors will point to ntdll.dll even though that file itself is not the culprit.

 

JSkorna, on 07 Sept 2013 - 11:59 PM, said:

Is that all you have to offer lol. Me personally wouldnt reply to a thread if I did'nt have anything to offer

 

 

I would ignore his comment, he has very bad habit of adding useless negative comments to threads

 

 

I have windows updates  firmly turned off, i never update unless i have an issue, and always backup before winows update. This is easier if you have dedicated FSX pc like i do, cause fsx hardly ever needs windows update, depends what addons you using.

 

My old XP machine worked fine, till windows updates killed it by making XP practically unusable, and funny this was about the same exact time win8 was released. Microsoft is going to do the same to win7 that i currently use for fsx, so i dont do updates either.

 

The whole updatable software thing was supposed to be a good idea, now its an excuse to release beta software, and break working software to get folks to buy new products.

 

It's still hogwash. If automatic updates cause you problems it is your computer that was the issue, not the updates. If it was the updates then every person would be experiencing the very same issues. Do you see anything like that reported anywhere? No.

You can always look through the update history and roll back each/any of the listed updates individually.  That could help determine if one or another is at fault.  I occasionally get Windows Update presenting me with a driver update for my video card.  I always opt out of that update, and also tell Windows to remove it from the recommended list.

 

I have my Windows Updates set to manual, and I clone my hard disk with Seagate Disc Wizard before I proceed with updates.  Makes a fully bootable clone that be used to replace the primary drive in the event of any failure, whether hardware or software related.  I have three identical model 1.5 TB hard drives and I rotate them no less than once per month.  My system has slide-in SATA bays via the front panel which makes this process easy.

It's still hogwash. If automatic updates cause you problems it is your computer that was the issue, not the updates. If it was the updates then every person would be experiencing the very same issues. Do you see anything like that reported anywhere? No.

 It all depends how much you trust(NSA) who is sending you the update, XP kill switch came as windows update from microsoft.

I used my XP from 2006 no issues, and it died same week win8 was released, go hog a wash on that.

 

And you can Hog this too, FSX was designed in 2006 and every update is designed to improve current day applications  not old ones like FSX, its even more likely to break it.

 

As long as microsoft is not releasing  FSX updates to keep it in line with the windows updates, with every update you are creating an enviroment that disregardes the needs of FSX, good for addons, but not FSX. And you can Hog that too.

 

Oh how I miss the days when windows was unupdatable and stable. Its no longer a software industry, its a bug industry, one of the worst culprits being Java. And you can wash it down with that

As I said earlier, I deleted my FSX configuration and let FSX generate a new one. I´ve been flying all day and not one single crash. I guess I´m a lucky one today and hopefully the coming days ahead.

It's still hogwash. If automatic updates cause you problems it is your computer that was the issue, not the updates. If it was the updates then every person would be experiencing the very same issues. Do you see anything like that reported anywhere? No.

You are an idiot because everyone is not going to experience the same problems based on their systems. Thats why some addons will work for some people and not others. There is a ton of people having problems with the 777 but some are not, I wonder why. Everybody's system is different with different hardware and drivers so saying that it doesnt happen to everyone shows that you dont know what you are talking about

 

 

opt out of the updates

Thanks for that, but already do that for precisely that reason. Microsoft, albeit, thru Windows Updates, screws up systems. Now it's off, permanently.

You are an idiot because...

 

It's a bit unnecessary to call someone an idiot because you disagree with what they say. Walk away for a bit and cool down.

Sadly there is a lot of ridiculous information being passed along in this thread as helpful information wrapped around a few bits that have some validity. Doing updates manually is perfectly fine, as long as you do them at some point. That can be the problem sometimes; when you turn auto install off many people forget to even bother with updates after that and they go untouched for months. Not a good thing even if strokes of good luck keeping you from bad things happening leading you into a sense of immunity.

 

And the suggestion that MS sent a "kill switch" to Windows XP (a 12 year old operating system) via Windows update says more about a propensity for conspiracy theories than technical aptitude. My current company still has more than 400 XP machines in full use, all of which receiving Windows updates, that continue to hum along just fine.

 

As I said before, can a bad update mess things up? Of course. They can, have, and probably will in the future. But 99 times out of 100 an updated patch, often released withing hours, will fix the original problems without any of the drastic measures being detailed here.

And you can Hog this too, FSX was designed in 2006 and every update is designed to improve current day applications  not old ones like FSX, its even more likely to break it. As long as microsoft is not releasing  FSX updates to keep it in line with the windows updates, with every update you are creating an enviroment that disregardes the needs of FSX, good for addons, but not FSX. And you can Hog that too.

 

New updates don't break compatibility with old applications. It's critical for many businesses to keep using old applications, which is why every update goes through extensive testing before release.  Most updates are not designed to somehow enhance third party applications - they fix bugs and security flaws in the OS itself. As long as the applications adhere to all standards and API's, there's no reason for them to suddenly fail because a few core OS files were updated. Besides, most of us are using Win7 or newer, which came out many years after FSX.

 

As for a hidden, undocumented XP "kill switch" - this would result in massive lawsuits against Microsoft. The cost for companies that still use WinXP would be astronomical - it would be a thread to the global economy.