I had issues but just reinstalled all my drivers etc and everything works fine PhD,focused, etc
It might be early days and I have not had a clear night to run the system in anger but I loaded the full suite of applications from scratch and everything appears to connect and operate in Win7 ( ASCOM/TSX/SGP/BYE/C2A/Nebulosity/PHD2/CCDInspector/AstroPlanner etc). When I installed the OS, I checked the installed updates - nothing as late as KB405689X which came out this year for Win7. I allowed it to update itself for an hour and then disabled further ones, removing the pending ones in the windows download folder. This is a standalone PC and is not used for browsing or email, so unless someone gets through my hardware firewall…
The reason I upgraded from Win 7 to Win 10 was that its Microsoft Remote Desktop allowed multiple monitors. As soon as I can I will continue my sequence and confirm full operation. If it all works, I will probably stick with Win7 until hardware or software compatability issues force me to change.
At work, where we made microanalysis systems, we would supply a PC as part of the system. We would buy them in batches, enough for six months, and would test with that particular version of software and hardware. We would disable updates. We would discourage running additional software.
Expecting multiple pieces of software to run together on a variety of hardware and software platforms is a big ask. When you put everything together I wonder if any two systems are identical.
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[Update] – I loaded Win7 Pro to replace my troubled Win10 Pro installation but retained all the SB files in my User’s document folder. PHD2 and TSX were able to calibrate the guider using DirectGuide and I assume my issues with DirectGuide relate to the security update that caused all the hilarity.
@Ken - could you consider putting SGP profile and setup files in a user documents folder too for the future? It is more likely to be picked up by backup programs 
The following article documents 7 ways of disabling, to one degree or another, windows 10 updates.
https://www.askvg.com/fixing-windows-10-automatic-updates-install-problem/
Method #7 appears to be, by far, the best, assuming you want to disable them permanently.
It is: Method #7: Disable Windows Update Service
Very simple to implement, requiring only a few mouse clicks, works for all versions of windows 10. Totally disables windows updates forever.
I have not done this myself, having disabled them for 35 days. If other better fixes don’t show up by then, this is my go to solution.
The ASCOM people have provided a tool that automates the process of changing the DCOM security for ASCOM components.
It’s available from the ASCOM Initiative site: http://ascom-standards.org/
Instructions and background information is available from there.
Chris - do you happen to know if this is a one-time thing, or would one have to do it after subsequent Microsoft updates. Another thing occurs; if an affected application is updated, without their developers changing its dependence, would that cause the user to run this utility again too?
Thanks for pointing this out Chris. I’m curious, will running this tool
affect anything for those drivers/equipment that were NOT affected by the
Windows update? Is there any reason NOT to run this tool?
Joel…I only had an issue with ATIK hardware and only made a change for ATIK. If other equipment runs OK - there should be no need to touch DCOM config file for it. (I am saying that without anything but my own experience in the past weeks to back it up…I am no expert).
Kinch, I have delayed the windows update so I have not yet received the
problematic update. I don’t know yet what, if any, equipment will be
affected if I am forced to received the update. So I just figured if there
is no harm in using the ASCOM tool I’d use it and forget about it and
hopefully all will be well.
Do you have an Atik EFW2 and was it affected?
Yes - My EFW2 and Atik camera were affected - but I made the simple change to the DCOM Config file and all was well again.
I’ll probably have to run the ASCOM tool then because I have an EFW2 also.
All I know is what is in the link I posted. Bob Denny’s posts are linked and give a good explanation.
I seemed to have a similar issue to Buggs (9th Jan post) I can’t connect the mount via POTH. The dome connects OK.
I can connect the mount via the EQASCOM. I can also still connect the mount via SGPro along with the dome. Slaving the dome via SGPro results in the dome opening and scope becoming out of sync in some positions. It has been running fine with both connected and slaving using POTH.
I have reinstalled ASCOM and it made no difference.
I am not using Windows 10, my laptop is running windows 8.1. I see no mention of the offending patch number KD4056892 although there were 2 critical patched downloaded on 19 Jan.
Any views?
@alcol - I cannot find the reference but I recall reading that both Win 8 and 10 were affected. It might have been on the SB forum where there was another substantial thread. The trouble with this kind of issue is that it takes a while for the speculation to be sifted from the fact. I’ll try and find it. (I rolled back to Win 7, where I can control the updates)
Thanks Buzz
I thought I would be clever and Restore my laptop to before the update, but
alas my laptop won’t complete the Restore!! and I am not particularly IT
literate enough to sort it. I think I will stick with going back to SGPro
and suffering the occasional breakdown when slaving the dome and mount. I
did see a post that suggested that the issue of dome slaving has been
addressed in the new SGPro version 3 when it comes out?
Regards
Alec
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Having just posted. I noticed the ASCOM alert http://ascom-standards.org/ states that Windows 8.1 is also affected. So there you go. I think I will sit tight until Windows corrects their download rather than get myself in a muddle by following the repair posted by ASCOM.
Or is it easy to do???
Alcol, You haven’t said which mount you are using but if it is a Celestron then you have two options to fix things so that your mount will connect to POTH and return you to where you were before this windows update caused the problem. Either, follow Bob Denny’s instructions (you can get the link from CCDMan’s post 28 above) which is easy to follow and works fine, or you can follow the link posted by Chris (ASCOM Developer) also posted 58 above. Good luck.
Yes, it happens - I don’t know what I did but at one point Win 10 refused to work with any mouse, at which point I gave up and got the W7 DVDs out. With all the programs loaded onto a SSD, it did not take long to load…it was just the 3 hours of Win 7 updates… just as well it was cloudy.
Hi folks
I have taken the plunge and followed Bob Denny’s manual changes to my laptop running Windows 8. Unfortunately it made no difference I was still unable to connect to the mount via POTH. Not sure what to do next? Maybe I will uninstall the offending update.