[MiKTeX] New MiKTeX console - dead on arrival

[Gordon B. <gr...@ex...>]

I see several folks have been disappointed with the new console.

I perhaps more so than others... I used the old updater yesterday, and
1) was surprised to see the console and TexWorks install themselves - in
the wrong folder of my start menu - uninvited;
2) apparently break the links to the old update utilities; and,

most important of all...

NOTHING on the new console works. It can't find any repositories, though it
offers me a list of packages. If I download a package manually, it refuses
to update the FNDB. (So, for the moment - I cannot use any package I didn't
already have installed before I updated!)
I get offered no more helpful error than "timed out".

I would be mildly sympathetic to something like incorrect proxy settings,
for connecting to a repository (no proxy was needed, for the old system.) I
can't imagine what type of problem would cause even the FNDB refresh to
fail.
Windows 10 64-bit here.

All words of wisdom welcomed.

GRB