What can cause CTDs a feature of windows where it puts USB devices into low power mode when not in use. Then when you use the peripheral (ie a joystick when going from autopilot back to handflying after some time) it wakes the device up and causes a CTD that you often get when ‘connecting’ a USB device when the SIM is running (recognised bug).
This can be resolved through the Devices part of the control panel - if you dig deep enough you will find an option for disabling the usb power saving mode for each connected USB peripheral. I would recommend this for any peripherals used my running MSFS. The SPAD next driver software will do it for you.
This isn’t related to the NPP freeze bug.