I "fixed" it. It WAS the Norton 360 antivirus software. Apparently a new release blocked librepilot. I manually set an app permission for the librepilot .exe file which changed 3 settings - Ransomware protection - do nothing, Safecam - allowed, browser data protection - do nothing. If you set all 3 to do nothing, it doesnt seem to want to save the rule!! But this worked - PROVIDED - that i plus in the USB FIRST, let it go through its connection beeps, THEN start librepilot.
Whew!!