Windows 10 updates causing issues with ACP

[Dean Salman]

So Windows 10 is going to be around and they are going to send big updates that make the user reinstall ACP and enter the key again. This time the settings on a Fork mount got changed to German EM and I have seen other settings get defaulted back. The people I work with get upset with ACP because the say it stops working. I tell them Windows Update broke it and enter key, if that fails reinstall again, they do not take that very well. The windows update cause variable issues and maybe there is nothing you can do about it. However if the registry is the problem, maybe it is time to get out of there and use the other areas that other apps use, roaming section under users or the ProgramData folder. This just letting you know users (at least the ones I know) are getting tired of it and there is no real good way to stop the updates Just FYI, that's all Some have gone back to Windows 7 which is maybe the only solution

[Bob Denny]

This time the settings on a Fork mount got changed to German EM and I have seen other settings get defaulted back.

I need to look at these cases separately. There should be no reason for them to re-enter the key. Re-running the ACP installer should never make changes to ACP settings either. If it is happening, then I need to look at the case personally and solve the problem. When someone's system gets into that state, I need to connect and see it with my own eyes.

If this is not possible, then please have your customers save the ACP settings once their systems are running successfully, via the ACP Menu, Save Profile As... Or even better, you can save them "Saved by Dean" and take a copy of the zip file. It is completely self contained. To restore the customer's ACP, re-run the ACP installer if needed , then start ACP and Restore Profile... from the zip file you saved. Maybe that should be the standard operating procedure for these customers who don't want to work with me to solve problems.

I understand that you distrust the registry but there are many thousands of applications that use the registry routinely. The apps that are using ProgramData are very new. I need to solve the specific problems you are seeing, and I will do so.

[Jeff Morgenthaler]

Hi Bob and other Windows 10 sufferers,

Like Dean, I had to reinstall ACP after the Windows 10 Fall Creators update, but all went OK -- no configuration changes needed for me.

But then

January 3, 2018—KB4056892 (OS Build 16299.192)
Applies to: Windows 10 version 1709

shredded ASCOM. No objects would load in ACP, the Chooser wouldn't choose my mount (AstroPhysics 1100 GTO) in MaxIm DL, connections that would normally launch my mount's driver wouldn't launch the driver. It was Windows 3.1 nightmares all over again ;-). Fortunately, uninstalling KB4056892 fixed everything + ACP is happily taking data right now on an all-night plan. Interestingly, if I launched my mount's driver first and then connected to it with MaxIm, MaxIm appeared to control the mount OK. Not sure if that helps narrow down where the problem may be, but thought it might be worth mentioning just in case.

Clear skies!

jpm

[Colin Haig]

I had a look on the MSFT site, and there are numerous issues with this update, and they are addressing Real Soon Now.
This includes problems with the install apparently failing when it actually did work; CPU and disk high utilization near the end of the install process; other issues that are a bit vague. There is a surprising lack of detail about this fixes in this update, however the rumour mill says it appears to include Intel processor security bug fix in addition to fixes to Edge and other apps.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Hopefully we will see a patch to the patch soon.

[Bob Denny]

Oh no. I guess I had better catch up on sleep.

[Eric Dose]

This new KB4056892 definitely includes MSFT's new Spectre and Meltdown fixes. These fixes are patches to the kernel itself, so yes, mayhem is indicated at least in the short term. Everyone (MSFT, Linux, Apple) will have to rewrite parts of their kernels. Slowdowns may be 5-30 % at first, but that and stability will probably improve with updates over maybe the next couple of months or so.

I updated my Win 7 Pro system, and it's fine. Windows 10 has not so far been quite so lucky. But I'm frankly surprised it hasn't been worse.

[Eric Dose]

Before we get too many ritual Windows denunciations: this one is Intel's (and maybe ARM and AMD's) fault, and Microsoft is trying to clean up Intel's mess.

It turns out that speculative execution can be exploited if the on-chip cache used for that purpose isn't purged--completely below the level of the Operating System in use. All Intel and maybe other CPUs since, I don't know, 1995-8 or so will be vulnerable. The exploits will be slow, and you'll have OS defenses and possibly some anti-virus defenses--the problem isn't the amount of data vulnerable, but the fact that it gets kernel data--passwords and other high-value, low-byte-size data.

If your CPU dates from before 1995, you're fine.

Short of that:

• Eventually, your best fix will be to replace your CPU with a non-vulnerable CPU after they've become available, and they will.
• In the meantime, your best fix will be to wait out OS updates to patch Intel's errors. In our case that may mean uninstalling any patch you can't live with, because next week there will surely be another to patch the patch.

The good news is that we may have bragging-rights competition between Linux, Windows, and Apple for speed and depth of corrections. The bad news is that there will be competition to breach on the black-hat side. In the end, if the OS patches prove too leaky, I personally expect CPU exchange offers by year's end.

[Eric Dose]

Today I discovered by accident that my Win 7 Home machine required 3 reboots, then it returned to quite normal network connectivity. I've since heard that others have stumbled onto the same multiple-boot "solution" to new USB connectivity problems on Win 7 and Win 10. Whereas My Win 7 Pro and Win 10 Pro boxes haven't shown any problems so far, fingers definitely crossed. (Not 100% sure what the Pro advantage could be, but such small advantages seem to arise over and over, to the point that I only specify Windows Pro anymore).

If your PC connectivity is spotty after updates, multiple reboots may be the first, certainly low-risk thing to try.

[Bill McLaughlin]

This was posted on the SGP forum and I was wondering about it's accuracy:

"Some further info -- a good friend and fellow astronomer is also an experienced COM developer and he says the problem lies in the coding used in many ASCOM drivers.Microsoft closed a known security flaw in COM and that caused improperly written ASCOM drivers to fail. He does not think Microsoft will make any changes or roll backs and it will be up to the ASCOM driver developers to fix the problem and release new versions."

Is it indeed a flaw in some of the drivers that, combined with the W 10 update, caused these issues? If so, If so, I would assume it is up to the driver authors (not MS) to fix this? Or is that wrong? We tried Bob's fix for our TSX ASCOM driver issue (which kept guide signals from getting to the mount) and that did not work. It did work to roll back the update but that (if I am correct) is only good for a month or so before the update is forced upon us.

Thanks!

[Bob Denny]

See the last part of this ("Additional Background").

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/...messages/38552

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Today we analyzed this issue further and have found that it is related to the DCOM permissions which were added to ASCOM components 10 years ago in order to make them compatible with TheSky 6, which uses DCOM for the old SB Internet Astronomy Suite. Those LocalServer components which do not have DCOM compatibility info registered with them will accept inbound connections with no problems. This is why some things work and some don't. Unfortunately, the Installer Generator tool for ASCOM driver developers has this DCOM stuff baked in. Rather than risk compatibility problems with TheSky 6 (and yes there are still people using it), the right way to fix this is to change the DCOM authentication level as described in our article, and doing this within the Installer Generator.

There is noting "improper" in the drivers. There is nothing "improper" in the way they are registered. This post is unnecessarily negative. No one could have guessed. And the whole thing is a result of some junk DCOM info needing to be present in COM registration just (and only) for TheSky 6 ten years ago! I was around for all of that. Thanks for alerting me to this. I will get onto the SGP forum and fill in the blanks. Man there is a load of BS around this.