How to Disable Auto-Update Checks in ResEdit

If you are a Windows application developer who uses C or C++, then you know the importance of adding resources in the code. These resource scripts are in the RC file format and are compiled into the RES file formats using a tool called WindRes. These RES files are then linked with the objective code of the C/C++ files and a binary file like EXE or DLL are produced.

For creating or editing resource scripts (RC files), we need a resource editor like ResEdit. Even though all the development tools come with a resource editor of its own, the free ResEdit is popular among the C/C++ coders because it is portable and works well with GNU C/C++ compilers.

Sadly ResEdit was not being developed for a few years and  now its website has also gone down. You can still download it from sites like https://sourceforge.net/projects/resedit-portable/files/. So now when you launch ResEdit, it gets shut down immediately because of automatic update checks. When it checks for the updates, it does not get the desired response and that crashes the application.

We can continue using ResEdit simply by disabling auto-update checks in its settings. Here is how it is done:

    1. In the folder where ResEdit.exe is located, find a file named ResEdit.XML. If this file does not exist then try to run ResEdit at least once and it will be created for you. Even if ResEdit crashes in a few seconds, it will be created.
    2. Right-click on ResEdit.XML and then choose Edit from the context-menu.Diable Update Check with ResEdit
    3. When ResEdit.xml is opened in Windows Notepad, find a line with autoCheckUpdate in it. Change its value from true to false as it is displayed in the following screenshot.Diable Update Check with ResEdit
    4. Save the ResEdit.xml file and now you can launch ResEdit without worrying about any crashes. The auto-update checks are disabled easily in this manner.
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