Hi BullGod
If I bought a vehicle and, following an initial service by a division of the company during which they changed the electronic system it failed to work, damned right I'd expect it to be fixed by them as a matter of urgency and at no cost to me.
If I'd been running FSX on an old PC with an early version of Windows and FSX didn't work properly, or if I'd replaced some components in my PC with unusual versions and it stopped working because of something Ihad done to the configuration - then that would be down to me to fix.
As far as I am aware, FSX is still being sold as a Microsoft product and is show on the MS compatibility website as working with WIN 8.1. (This was certainly the case when I installed it) FSX worked under WIN 8 and failed to work as soon as MS "upgraded" my system to WIN 8.1. I stand by my view that they caused the problem and they have a moral responsibility to sort it out.
You have identified a solution that appears to work - and they should negotiate with you to include that solution (or someone else's) into an official release which should be distributed by MS to registered users of FSX on WIN 8.1 - after they've verified that it doesn't cause other issues elsewhere.
I am angry and disgusted that MS have just washed their hands of this problem.
Personally I'm not prepared to gamble with my main PC set up - which is why I've bought another PC running Windows XP which I use exclusively for FSX. That has solved my immediate problem and I now have a system I can play with. It doesn't make me any less angry with MS though!
regards
fireB1rd