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Indeed, there was one before I installed the update. There's a number in it as well, showing how many updates there are. In this case, 1.

Those who have bought and installed it see this:

On the other hand, wouldn't the staggering sums of money involved in this be better spent on fixing this world, rather than starting to ruin our moon and no doubt later, Mars?

The basic principle is this: Downloading and streaming are two opposites. Once you have downloaded data, it is no longer streamed, it is resident on your device. MSFS uses that data and does not look elsewhere. This fills your local hard drive(s) with data that is mostly not in use at any given moment. If you don't download, then the data is streamed, which means that it is taken from the "cloud" as needed, used and then discarded in favour of the next streamed data. This is the design behind MSFS 2024 and is the most effective way to access the needed parts of vast amounts of data, without the need to have any of it resident on your device. To refer back to my first answer to your question, if you want to stream data, you should not download any. If you want to use the data that you have already downloaded, there is nothing left to do, except to use it. "Streaming" means coming down the internet. Installing means using data that has been downloaded and stored. You cannot stream downloaded data, but you can just use it.

The answer to that is in the first post. There are no: "Updated scenery from every part of the world, updates to the Premium version from the Standard version ( I have the Premium version), updates for various planes, etc. etc." unless the content has already been downloaded. This means that he is not streaming it and has already downloaded everything that now has an update, despite the stated preference for streaming. Even Simulator Updates are done elsewhere and the already updated files streamed to the device There are no notifications that an update is available, as it has already been applied before streaming.

My own view is that if, as you seem to be saying, you have strong device and a good internet connection, all that downloading was probably pointless. MSFS 2024 is designed to stream, which is why its footprint on my device is about 29 GB, versus the 477 GB that MSFS 2020 takes up. Naturally, there will be lots of other opinions, everyone has one, as they say, but that's mine.

At Amazon, the 32 GB of DDR4 that I bought for £58.99 in September 2024 is now £199.99 or £268.89, or even £656.73. It is not surprising, but somewhat depressing to see attempts by the greedy to rip off the anyone that they think they can. Human nature is often flawed and for me, the worst flaw is greed, something that seems to be motivating far too much at present.

I can't see any other possible answer to the question other than "no". The answers even explain why there is no going back, yet apparently, for you, that still isn't enough.

It is easily blocked.

In case you do want to understand, for reasons of their own, when you buy a version of MSFS 2024, or indeed MSFS 2020, you are given all versions up to and including the one you chose. These are listed, as in your screenshot, as separate purchases: Each version is a "Pack", made up of numerous "items". You have made dynamic updating at source impossible by downloading the files to your device. The only option left to Microsoft is to notify you that updates are available, so that you can download them, if you wish to. If an "item" in a "Pack" has been updated, meaning a newer version of the same thing, NOT upgraded, which means a different and better "item", you will see the notification. The notification does not mean that the entire "Pack" has been updated, it means that at least one and perhaps several of the "items" within the "Pack" has or have been updated. It is telling you that you no longer have the latest version of the "item" and that a newer version of the "item" is available to download. Armed with that information, you can choose whether to update, or not to update.

Hello Ron, it looks as if it has gone walkabout to here:

Agreed. My guess is that the update went as well as most updates do, resulting in a lot of missing data and missing previous default settings. Perhaps it's best to let a few days go by before delivering a verdict. Here is where the "Home" tab takes us at the moment:

The "compact" view is here:

It's not drama, it's a joke. Humour does not travel well, especially here.

Also, for the record, 2020 performs well on my system (i5-11600K, 3080ti, 64GB RAM, 4K) while 2024 runs just fine at a fixed 30fps at similar settings. Which illustrates really that the best thing to do is try MSFS 2024 for yourself For every "It's dreadful" there are several "It's wonderfuls" and you and anyone else wringing their hands are left with with no clear answer, because there isn't one.