SONAR Slow Start

I switched to S1 here. I always thought Sonar took long too. S1 takes way longer even for fairly modest projects. Anything with Kontakt takes way longer in S1 than in Platinum. As close to identical projects as I could muster. I'm not bashing S1 as it turns out I like it a lot. But over the years I've heard a lot of comments about Sonar that in my brief time window shopping alternatives leads me to conclude that we Sonar users had/(have) it pretty good. I'm still in the process of moving on but it's not as enjoyable as just using Sonar has been.
My 2 cents

I see there is definitely a trend and conclusion developing here .... NOT

Just some thoughts here:
 
Does this only happen with that template, or does it take ages with a blank template too?
 
Have you blocked internet access, and is there any plugin (or even more than one plugin) in your template that is trying to check for authorisation/updates? It might be that the cumulative time-outs of each plugin giving up is causing the slow startup?

UPDATE:
I disabled a bunch of nVidia HD audio drivers -- don't remember how many, at least eight -- and SONAR is starting much faster now. I now believe the Windows 1709 update caused a large part of this. Maybe I'll get around to removing the Magix Low Latency driver but so far I have not found an uninstaller for it.
SONAR may not be a fast starter, but I'm a patient guy, as long as it's responsive once it's open and I'm using it. And it is.
But I am currently devoting all my DAW time to learning Samplitude, which I have found to be kind of a bear. I want to be as facile with it as I was getting to be in SONAR, and it's just going to take time. I have a few old projects in SONAR that probably will need remixing some day, so I'm keeping it. I love it, but it's an Edsel.
Thanks scook for your advice.

Sonar is the fastest starting DAW since I disabled the automatic plugin scan and the START SCREEN!
 
And I have also installed Samplitude with the MAGIX Low Latency Driver (but I do not use this driver). It does not affact Sonar at all!

Larry Jones
UPDATE:
I disabled a bunch of nVidia HD audio drivers -- don't remember how many, at least eight -- and SONAR is starting much faster now. I now believe the Windows 1709 update caused a large part of this. Maybe I'll get around to removing the Magix Low Latency driver but so far I have not found an uninstaller for it.

I actually uninstalled (not disabled) all Nvidia software via the add/remove programs except for NVIDIA's Graphics Driver, and NVIDIA's PhysX System Software.
 
Also, if you go into the Device Manager, then click View->Show Hidden Devices, you can uninstall all of the dead linkages (they show up with an icon over them, and will reinstall themselves if ever plugged back in). When that gets messy, software is trying to connect to all of them if Windows lists them even if dead.
 
The MAGIX ASIO driver seems to be a one-off deal... it causes grief on initial load, but once configured in each program seems to behave. I was initially going to trash that, but I have a few standalone VSTis that need an ASIO driver, so it does serve a purpose.
 
The only other thing that comes to mind is there was a similar thread long ago and Noel spoke on how SONAR loads. The only time it was excessive for me was because SONAR links to available ReWire devices, and I had a flaky one. If you have installed any programs with ReWire enabled, that could also be a cause.
 
Win10 updates I cannot speak to, but I have seen folks mention issues with various updates on their machines. Often this seems that disabled settings get re-enabled each time an update occurs, so disabling things that cause issues must be done with each major update.