1. Are you on a network?
Yes, but the delay occurs on and off networks.
2. Do you run Extensis Suitcase?
Yes, but see below.
3. Do you run Microsoft Office (any programs in that suite) while Extensis is on?
Yes.
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Here's the latest. I went through the trouble of reinstalling OS X a third time and ONLY installing Portfolio. Sure enough, I get the delay immediately. This seems like pretty good evidence that Portfolio is a lead culprit (though others may also apply).
It's not a universal effect however. It seems that virtually all Apple apps (Textedit, Safari, others...) incur the delay, but Mozilla is unaffected. So it seems that while Portfolio may be the catalyst, there's something on Apple's end that's also helping the effect. At least it seems that way.
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My next time wasting effort will be to see if I can uninstall Portfolio to remove the effect. BTW--Are all you other Portfolio users experiencing this? My test was to launch Safari (make sure it's quit first) and load the Apple homepage and right click the mini iPod image. My iMac takes ten seconds to get the first drop down menu, my G4 takes about five seconds and our other G4 takes as low as three, which is still lame. If you quit Safari and redo the same task, you get the delay again. Mozilla shows no such delay. Weird.
The good news is that Portfolio 7 is announced and I warned them about the issue, so they damn well better look into it.