I have a problem in flight sims (specifically FS2004), where my rudder control on the joystick causes the plane to shoot off to the left. I have to twist the rudder control almost fully to the right to keep the plane on the runway! Could this be a hardware issue i.e sticking component, or is there a quick way to reset things to default config? Thanks.

My iMac has a CD/DVD drive, but I posted a X-Plane 10 pendrive to avoid inserting DVD #1 every session. It functions perfectly. Another point is to connect all peripherals (stick and pedals etc.) BEFORE launching X-Plane 10. Then calibrate your peripherals within XP 10.
I have no pedals set, but instead a pitch-stick with grip throttle and a Logitech joystick with twist grip to fly helicopters.

theres a few sites that offer a custom program to better adjust those joysticks with better settings ,do a quick google and see what you can find

Really, that is completely up to the user. I have the Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS joystick, and I like that. There are many joysticks out there that offer many different features as well as coming with rudder pedals as well. Really, the biggest factor on deciding comes down to how light you would like your wallet to be after purchase! :)

first all have you added any type of addon's like new airplanes
or scenery if you have then something there may be cousing your problem. if its an airplane go back remove that airplane. and try again
if all this fails you can reset flight sim 2004
go to Start then program files then microsoft games there you see microsoft flight simulator 2004 click on that then another box open up you see troubleshooting you notice in there rest to defaults
do not use this unless you wont reset it all to defaults settings. if this does not cure the problem then a reinstall of flight sim is needed. if you need any more help please ask

if you use mouse yoke, get a joystick if you have a joystick it may be broken.

i had a similar problem and the cause was i wasn't getting power from the wall socket

I have the same game but what you need to do is go to the menu on the hompage of game and go to controlls and disable it. i will post more details later

To check the joystick isn't the problem, go into control panel game controls, then check that the joystick appears and you can move the cross-hair around on screen, most modern joysticks are
auto-calibrating, but you could try running the calibration.

To check the game isn't a problem, unplug the joystick, then use the arrow keys to fly the plane, if it doesn't crash when you bank then it isn't the game.

I assume the game is Combat Flight Simulator 3, as very old games that were written for Windows 95,98,ME series often won't run on Windows NT,2000,XP,Vista as they are completely different versions of Windows. If this is actually Flight Simulator 3, you may need to consider buying a later version of Flight Simulator (FSX is the latest version, but may not run on your laptop).

Other things to try are updating the graphics card driver.

Norton shouldn't need deactivating, although it could cause problems if you're playing online.

Also remember that laptop graphics cards are never as powerful as desktop graphics, and games very rarely specifically support laptop graphics.

Hope this helps.

My blackwidow joystick would not work in google earth, the sim would just crash. I tried a surgestion to remove the blackwidow software and just run it with the ms hid driver. It now works fine, even the throtle and rudder controls.

Your in luck I happen to be a Flight simmer also. You need to go into your main menu under settings in Flight sim 2002. You will see enable joystick then you will see cordinated flight or uncordinated flight. You want to select uncordinated flight. Meaning that you will have full control of rudder and the sim will no longer make coordinated turns for you. You will have to add rudder to prevent a skid.