Never mind, you've used the F1 tool and the problem persists with FS9, so a manual registry check is pretty much pointless.
For reference, the relevant registry keys are discussed here: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/registry-keys-fsx-fsx-se-p3dv1-p3dv2.432633/

 

If more than a single tool was affected by a problem, I'd pretty much opt for a complete clean installation (Windows and all programs).

3 hours ago, Bjoern said:

Never mind, you've used the F1 tool and the problem persists with FS9, so a manual registry check is pretty much pointless.
For reference, the relevant registry keys are discussed here: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/registry-keys-fsx-fsx-se-p3dv1-p3dv2.432633/

 

If more than a single tool was affected by a problem, I'd pretty much opt for a complete clean installation (Windows and all programs).

Thanks Bjoern. Though that's the last thing anybody wants to hear, I think it's the truth. About the only good thing about it is that as a university professor, I have the next two months off, so at least I'll have plenty to do on those hot, humid days when all you want to do is stay inside in the air conditioning! I think the saddest part of this for me is that there's no way I'm going to invest all the time needed to reinstall FS9. I know a lot of people will raise their eyebrows at this, but over the years I had made so many improvements to it that it was still a valid sim for me, though I rarely used it anymore. But I will take the time to optimize FSX-SE. I probably should be giving serious thought to moving on to P34D but I'm not sure I can afford it and I've invested so much money and time into SE that I'll probably stick with it until my sim days are over...

17 hours ago, kiwiflyer45 said:

Thanks Bjoern. Though that's the last thing anybody wants to hear, I think it's the truth. About the only good thing about it is that as a university professor, I have the next two months off, so at least I'll have plenty to do on those hot, humid days when all you want to do is stay inside in the air conditioning! I think the saddest part of this for me is that there's no way I'm going to invest all the time needed to reinstall FS9. I know a lot of people will raise their eyebrows at this, but over the years I had made so many improvements to it that it was still a valid sim for me, though I rarely used it anymore. But I will take the time to optimize FSX-SE. I probably should be giving serious thought to moving on to P34D but I'm not sure I can afford it and I've invested so much money and time into SE that I'll probably stick with it until my sim days are over...

Hi,

these flight files, do they still have the correct name, including the ending .flt (!), and can you still open them with notepad? What you wrote earlier, with that woman talking to you, sounds more like an actual attack on your computer than something AntiVirus would do. It could be that all the files in your documents folders are encrypted now.

Best regards

Edited May 28, 20188 yr by Lorby_SI

You know, Oliver, I was thinking the same thing.  More of a virus/malware attack as opposed to just the Windows update.  Could it be that the ones whose flightsims got messed up had a less active antivirus protection and the ones who had no ill effects had a strong antivirus program?

I am pretty sure you are right that it was a malware attack, even though it looked like an authentic Microsoft program. It was all very dramatic and sudden, the British accent was odd for MS and the warning about reporting my IP to "the government" sounded ridiculous. My first thought was "Oh oh, ransomware!" But I have run two different antivirus programs and neither has identified anything amiss. And it happened when I clicked on a product description at SimMarket which seems like a pretty strange place to encounter malware. I know I need to bite the bullet and take it into my local Microsoft store and have them check it out but my life is so busy right now, I just can't find the time....

As for the flights, they work but only if I put them in a folder that is one of my Steam DLC products, ridiculous as that sounds. I figured that out because the particular scenery had a flight that came with it and that was showing up. When I move saved flights to the same folder, they work as well. And yes, they do open with notepad and they do have the correct names. But as there were other issues, I've concluded that the saved flights problem is just one of several that were caused by "the event."

Thanks for the continued suggestions and help - I really appreciate it

Ian

Edited June 2, 20188 yr by kiwiflyer45

Hi there, keep in mind that If you set UAC to the lower setting it is not completely Inactive, you have to disable it from the Registry. Only windows Administrator account by default has Really full access to your system.

Also i' ve never used Explorer or Edge. There are many other browsers (You know them, i suppose 😉) they are far more better than Edge or I.Ex. Finally you must run antivirus from a Safe boot Disk, to be completely sure.

There are many practices regarding Online Safety but then we will go off topic. Generally if you feel that you PC has a strange behavior, a fresh installation of Windows is always a time saving solution.(Format)

 

Regards.

Thanks. My daughter in law is a tech with Microsoft and was here today for Father's Day. She tried to find the saved flights files and figure out why the default path has changed so I can't save any new flights and agreed that the Windows 10 update is the culprit. She said that since the update they have been inundated with people whose computers have been corrupted and also said that a fresh install of Windows is probably the only solution. As for all the saved flights I had, along with all the other contents of my Documents folder - they are probably gone forever. Thanks for reaching out to help - I really appreciate it but I think at this point there's no other fix than wipe the hard drive and reinstall everything. I intend to do it but I'm in the midst of moving to another home and just don't have time - hopefully in a few weeks I will have everything back in running condition. For now, I'm just trying to work around it so I can still do some flying....

You are a very lucky person then.......... Feel free to ask whenever you want.

Regards.