eM Client takes 5-10 minutes to load!

After using eM Client for years, in the last couple of days I have a big problem with it, and that is it takes up to 10 minutes to load!
I have uninstalled/reinstalled 3 or 4 times, used the existing database or tried a fresh one, but nothing seems to get this back to normal.
The weird thing is that on every reinstalling, when eM Client starts to run, it is Windows 11 Settings app that comes up, followed by eM Client about 10 minutes later.
Any help appreciated.