FSX/Windows 10 Technical Question

[Catboat]

I have recently been advised by my local Super-Geek, that I should seriously consider changing to Windows 10, as there will be no further support for Windows 7 by the end of the year, and so support services have already ceased. I am at present running Windows 7 with FSX Acceleration, with all the Bells and Whistles, and using a simple Logitech three-axis joystick with single throttle control. When questioned, the Super-Geek mentioned that he believed their had been some initial problems with the Windows 10/FSX combination, particularly with some high-end equipment, e.g. control yokes, multiple throttles etc. but he believed these had all been corrected. Has anyone experienced problems with the FSX/Windows 10 combination.

[Jafo]

I have recently been advised by my local Super-Geek, that I should seriously consider changing to Windows 10, as there will be no further support for Windows 7 by the end of the year, and so support services have already ceased. I am at present running Windows 7 with FSX Acceleration, with all the Bells and Whistles, and using a simple Logitech three-axis joystick with single throttle control. When questioned, the Super-Geek mentioned that he believed their had been some initial problems with the Windows 10/FSX combination, particularly with some high-end equipment, e.g. control yokes, multiple throttles etc. but he believed these had all been corrected. Has anyone experienced problems with the FSX/Windows 10 combination.

Windows 10 is a permanent public beta which is guaranteed to have on-going issues. Moat recent was the total loss of people's User data....not everyone....that would have been terminal for MS....just enough to annoy the heck out of those who suffered.
The old saying 'if it ain't broke....' comes into play....just stick with 7. I know I will be....long after ALL the MS 'heads' have rolled over the 10 fiasco.

[Priller]

I have recently been advised by my local Super-Geek, that I should seriously consider changing to Windows 10, as there will be no further support for Windows 7 by the end of the year, and so support services have already ceased. I am at present running Windows 7 with FSX Acceleration, with all the Bells and Whistles, and using a simple Logitech three-axis joystick with single throttle control. When questioned, the Super-Geek mentioned that he believed their had been some initial problems with the Windows 10/FSX combination, particularly with some high-end equipment, e.g. control yokes, multiple throttles etc. but he believed these had all been corrected. Has anyone experienced problems with the FSX/Windows 10 combination.

None whatsoever. Same goes for Prepar3D v4.4.

I find that flightsims actually run better on Windows 10.

Priller

[BendyFlyer]

I am with JAFO on this one. Not sure where the Geek gets his info from but I have been doing some work for one the world's largest aerospace combines all the PC's are networked worldwide and everyone gets Windows 7 - talked to the head IT guy here, no intention of going to WIN10 which they regard as a dog. Not sure what they mean by support anyway, the endless fixes for so called security bugs etc. I do an update about every six months and there are always tons of files to be updated so it is still ongoing most of it is probably unnecessary anyway for your average user. Probably just dropping in more corporate spyware and stuff like that. I gave Google Chrome the boot about a month ago and went over to Opera as a browser it works just fine takes up a tenth of the space and is lightning fast, no issues or security stuff whatsoever. I will stick with Win 7 until this machine dies then probably go to X-Plane because I can run that on Linux. I guess you can see I am not a Windows fan at all, necessary evil.

[MrZippy]

You probably don't wanna know what I'm running!

Ah, hell! It's in my signature

[vortex]

Has anyone experienced problems with the FSX/Windows 10 combination.

None whatsoever. Windows 10 gets a lot of bad press and, with one or two exceptions, it's generally not deserved. Even the big issues have affected only a relatively small number of users who, as with most problems, tend to be very vocal and the problem looks much worse than it actually is. That's not to say that data loss is a trivial matter but you had to have a very specific, uncommon set of conditions for it to happen. I keep my installation fully updated but only with security updates and I block drivers (which is very easy to do). Those who complain about data collection (which can be turned off) are probably not aware that older versions of Windows also collected data but Microsoft were not as open about it previously. You can even download a data viewer which shows you exactly what is being sent to MS.

I think it's a great operating system (better than Win 7 in my opinion) and it hasn't caused me any issues since it was released. I have no reservations recommending it to anyone. Don't believe all of the horror stories you read about it!

[huub vink]

Hi catboat,

Since Windows10 was introduced in 2015, I am using the 64bits Home version, without any major problem. My PC was high end when I purchased in 11 years ago, but according to current standards it is nothing special anymore. After I had installed Windows10 I had the feeling FSX started faster, ran smoother and was more stable. During the period I am using Windows10, I never had any problem due to which FSX didn't work. I has some minor surprises, but I can't tell whether I wouldn't had faced the same surprises when I had stayed with Windows7.

I have always used simple analogue joysticks and am currently using a Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X. And it works without any problems. The Windows properties interface with the joystick is very similar to the properties interface under Windows XP and Windows 7.

As I have worked with and on computer systems for a very long time, I still consider myself a "Wizard of (MS-D)os" and I still hate operating systems which do or change things without informing me. And Windows10 does this just the same like its predecessors. When you google on "Windows wikipedia" you can find the history of Windows and in particular all the updates released for Windows10. Microsoft has made some unfortunate choices, but these were all solved within a reasonable period.

Whether you should update to Windows10 is a choice. As long as you don't change software and hardware your computer will most probably stay working as it does now. When you update your software (drivers for instance) without changing the operating system you can run into problems, but you can also run into problems with older software when you update your operating system to Windows10.

As you might have understood by now, I'm a reasonably satisfied Windows10 user and I don't have any major problems with my multiple FS9 and FSX installs. And be aware that people who complain most about Windows10 often run older Windows versions like Windows EXPEE

Cheers,
Huub

[Craig Taylor]

A cautionary tale: a while back I upgraded from Win7/64 Pro to Win10/64 Pro using the "free upgrade" offer from Microsoft, on a slightly oldish Dell that still had plenty of horsepower for the upgrade. I was using boxed FSX w/ Acceleration at the time, along with a CH Fighterstick, throttle quadrant, and rudder pedals. The Win10 upgrade went OK, without any major hiccups, but my FSX set-up had a number of persistent annoying little problems. I had trouble getting the CH hardware to stay "recognized" with the PC and within FSX, for example, and I could never get them resolved no matter how many different USB power management settings I tried. I would also have occasional issues with FSX freezing, as well. I even tried a complete reinstall of Windows 10 and everything else, but still couldn't get rid of these nagging issues.

Eventually a processor core issue forced me to get a new PC last year. Now I'm running Win10/64 Home. I'm using FSX-SE with those same CH peripherals (and latest drivers) and everything is working fine. No hardware issues, no software issues. I couldn't be happier. I know Dovetail made some software updates when they created FSX-SE, but I don't know if those have any bearing on solving the issues I experienced with the boxed FSX and Acceleration after the upgrade on the old PC. I do know that FSX-SE comes fairly optimized and requires very little additional tweaking to run properly on newer OS and hardware - at least that's been my experience. Others' mileages may vary.

Best of luck on what you decide to do.

[Dev One]

I run FSX SP2 & FSX-A (both legal CD versions) on my basic Acer laptop. I upgraded from W8.1 when the free offer was available to W10. I have not had any problem with either of my joysticks, a Logitech extreme 3D pro, or my worn out Saitek evo.
The only problem was in registering FSX which needed the part manager fix in the registry. My development desktop runs W8.1 & I have a pensioned off an older desktop running W7, but that one is not connected to the internet, because I found that the updates slow the boot procedure to a snail pace, not so with W8.1. Only snag with W10 updates is the download & install time, which then seems to repeat itself to complete the install the next time one switches on & one does not seem to be able to isolate parts of the update that one thinks are unnecessary!
Keith

[Catboat]

I run FSX SP2 & FSX-A (both legal CD versions) on my basic Acer laptop. I upgraded from W8.1 when the free offer was available to W10. I have not had any problem with either of my joysticks, a Logitech extreme 3D pro, or my worn out Saitek evo.
The only problem was in registering FSX which needed the part manager fix in the registry. My development desktop runs W8.1 & I have a pensioned off an older desktop running W7, but that one is not connected to the internet, because I found that the updates slow the boot procedure to a snail pace, not so with W8.1. Only snag with W10 updates is the download & install time, which then seems to repeat itself to complete the install the next time one switches on & one does not seem to be able to isolate parts of the update that one thinks are unnecessary!
Keith

Firstly, Many Thanks to all of you. I have been Simming for approximately 15 years, and I can divide the "Flight Simming" into two parts-the "Flight" part is no problem, however the "Simming" part is, because my knowledge of computers is marginal at best!! You have all contributed to my knowledge immensely. I have been able to understand both sides of the argument, and I will probably "sit on the fence" until mid-year (end of financial year), and then make a decision. My main concern is upgrading and finding I have lost a lot of the downloads, or finding the downloads don't work, and having to replace the same, which with payware is an expensive business. It also makes me appreciate how valuable these Forums are.


I trust my "Super Geek" (actually a small company), as they go to great lengths to explain to a computer idiot, what they are doing, and why, and then letting the customer make the decision. They also work at fixed prices for labour, so at least you know roughly what you may be up for. Like many, I have been burn't by I.T. persons who give you a load of rubbish, and either only partially do the job, or crank up the pricing!! However, the S.O.H forums are by for and above the best sources of info when it comes to flight sims. Your collective experience is invaluable! Thanks again

[Dev One]

My son is my IT specialist & I get his cast offs! When I received his last desktop we/he transferred the HDD with all my data to the new desktop that had already been loaded with the operating system HDD (later exchanged for a Samsung SSD), so I did not loose anything. Reason SSD not used for all work is, like most things, they have a life & if using M/soft programs it keeps getting written to & from which can then 'wear out' the SSD, which is what happened to my first SSD that had everything on it. I also have another partitioned HDD that is used for backup purposes (when I remember to do it that is!), although most important data back up is onto various USB sticks. Apparently a 'virtual machine' is what is needed, but that would not have helped my last failure which was the graphics card - took a few days messing about & swapping bits to establish that it was the graphics - very difficult to see whats not going on without video! It could have been MBoard, PSU not giving all voltages.......
Good luck
Keith