Need to stop data transferring from old Kodi to 17.3

In 17.2 I had a problem with a blank screen after 10 minutes of use. When pressed escape button skin came back without any letters on the bar. If I closed it and opened again it worked perfect. Updated to 17.3 but kept old 17.2 for the time being and it transferred all my programs automatically but also took the problem over as well. I have read all the info about black screens but no help. I would like to install 17.3 again but can I stop it automatically updating from old Kodis. Can do this with an external drive. I don’t want to delete all the old Kodis for the time being as many of the existing programs are no longer available or difficult to access.