CEP4: Plugin - Long Load Time (~35 seconds)

Nik Collection Nik Color Efex topics
1

CEP4, v5.0.3.78 x64

Measured on my primary PC from “click icon” to “able to make first edit”…

  1. Standalone: ~6 seconds
  2. Plugin (Photoshop 2021): ~35 seconds

Tested on my Surface Pro 7, both standalone and plugin launch in ~6 seconds, so this points to a configuration issue of some sort on the PC, but I am unable to figure it out.

Things I’ve tried:

  1. Un-/reinstall Nik Collection 3.0.8. (multiple times)
  2. Un-/reinstall Photoshop

No change in behavior.

What else should I look at for correcting this?

Thanks.