Hi Susan,
Thank you for uploading the .ini files. Unfortunately, there is nothing in them that can help to identify the problems you are experiencing. Both files, before and after the problem, are basically identical. The only differences are in some window positions and dimensions, which are completely irrelevant.
Susan, Gerald, Pete and the rest of users that are experiencing these weird problems on Windows,
I am very sorry to say this, but I am afraid these problems may have no viable solution. They are machine-specific issues that are being caused, with very high probability, by faulty graphics drivers. Previous versions of PixInsight managed to work with these drivers, but version 1.8.6 is much more demanding of a valid working environment, which exposes their failures. Unfortunately, there is probably no way to update these drivers because there is no longer active support for Windows 7 in many cases. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 7 on January 2015, and will discontinue its support completely on January 2020.
So there is basically nothing I can do to solve these problems. I cannot reproduce them on any of our machines running Windows 10, where the latest version 1.8.6.1457 of PixInsight works perfectly (modulo pending bugs). As I have said many times, if I cannot reproduce a nontrivial problem, I cannot understand it and hence cannot solve it.
Finally, please realize that these problems are very, very strange. PixInsight does not do anything remotely similar to what you are describing on any platform under normal working conditions, including Windows. These are the kind of weird issues caused by misbehaving graphics drivers or hardware. Please don't take this as an offense—nothing farther from what I'm trying to say—, but the workarounds you are describing sound esoteric. If they work, that's probably just because they are 'moving' the problem to a different 'place', but, heck, if they work, go ahead!
Those who know me also know well what I personally think about Windows. I don't want to start an operating system war here, so I'll better stop elaborating more on this subject. I just would like you to realize that Windows is intrinsically a problematic operating system, especially for a complex multiplatform application like PixInsight, and even much more problematic on relatively old or outdated hardware. Installing the latest Windows updates is important to guarantee system stability, but unfortunately some Windows updates contain bugs and generate conflicts that lead to the opposite result. Some applications may replace system components with invalid or outdated versions. Some virus protection applications may interfere with the normal operation of applications, or even modify components of installed applications. The proliferation of bloatware and malware is another cause of endless problems. And I could continue with the enumeration until boring you...
The current version of PixInsight works remarkably well on a clean Windows 10 installation. Irrespective of my personal preferences, I try to do my job the best I can, and producing a stable Windows version of PixInsight is undoubtedly a crucial part of it.
