Jim,
Is there anything I could do that would convince you that it might be a code issue and not a individual PC issue?
I've tried everything you have suggested (and more). Now, you are saying that I would need to reinstall Windows. But if I did that, with all the other AV and security-related caveats in place, and the problem remains, would you still dismiss this issue?
I've seriously considered that the problem is the PC and not MC and spent many hours trying to pinpoint the cause of the issue. (Because if it's my PC, I will get that addressed).
I agree that a fix that addresses a symptom and not the root cause can be risky (and I really do appreciate Matt for considering it, believe me).
So, I'm wondering what can be done to locate the root cause?
Matt has identified that the Auto-Import process is causing the hanging. If I keep everything the same and only change the MC version, it hangs. As I mentioned, I have done all the security/AV tests/uninstalls/etc. The core symptoms remain unchanged.
If you have diagnostics that I can run on this machine I will.