I saw this same thing in my ATC training lab. The SmartConsole software is digitally signed, and the startup delay is caused by Certificate Path Validation timing out because the Internet can't be reached, or the relevant protocol is blocked somewhere.
You can disable this path checking in Group Policy which will massively speed up the SmartConsole startup time, but beware the security implications. To make this change check the box "Define these policy settings" then uncheck everything else:
As far as freezeups in the SmartConsole while is running, usually this is caused my manipulating a gateway/cluster object's configuration or even just viewing it. When you hit OK/Cancel unfortunately these operations are still handled in the legacy single-threaded fwm process and not the newer cpm. So no matter how many cores your SMS has the SmartConsole will seize up while it is blocked waiting for fwm.
