what i was saying is there are three ways to exit the sim...
1. use the F10 menu bar's File->exit to bring up the exit dialog and hit enter
2. hit the ESCape key until the exit dialog (same one as above) appears and hit enter
3. do not use full screen mode so you can have the window controls and can click on the 'X' in the top right corner
if you (still) cannot see the text on the menu and dialogs, ensure that you have added "--prop:/sim/gui/current-style=0" (without the quotes) to your launcher's Additional Settings box at the bottom of the Settings tab...I tried to download from the computer but I got a message that the download would not continue because it would harm my computer.
what program told you that? your antivirus? they can be problematic at times... especially since they are signature based and it is quite possible for them to have false positives... in this case, your AV is lying to you if you are downloading FG from one of the official mirrors...
I guess I should be happy with the one aircraft (Cessna 172) that somewhat works.
there is also the UFO <laugh> but i understand what you are saying...
the C172P dev team spent a lot of time and effort to simulate as much of IRL with the craft as possible... yes, you have to apply right rudder to stay straight on the runway... this is due to several IRL factors... the prop wash spiral air column, p-factor, and possibly cross-winds... this is normal with single engine prop craft... yes, it takes time to figure it out... doing so makes you a better pilot...
Hint: when you crash, you can use the F10 menu bar's C172P menu to repair the craft instead of exiting the sim and restarting it each time...
if you (still) cannot see the text on the menu and dialogs, ensure that you have added "--prop:/sim/gui/current-style=0" (without the quotes) to your launcher's Additional Settings box at the bottom of the Settings tab...in the launcher, you can also select to install other craft... these are downloaded from the official hanger... you can also add the URLs for other hangers so as to be able to install their craft from the launcher, too...
on restarting taking so long, can you see the blue progress indicator bar at the bottom of the splash screen? just above it on the right, it should say what FG is doing at that point... where does it seem to be hanging the longest?
the recommendation is to get the latest 2020.3.4 LTS version... there's a lot of bugs that have been fixed since the version you currently have was released... several in the area around updating scenery and installing craft from the hangers...
https://www.flightgear.org/download/
"You get more air close to the ground," said Angalo. "I read that in a book. You get lots of air low down, and not much when you go up."
"Why not?" said Gurder.
"Dunno. It's frightened of heights, I guess."