SOLUTION: I just upgraded to windows 11 from windows 10 and voila! It's back to normal. Just serendipity as I upgraded for another reason but happily noticed no more delays. I had to keep turning off my wifi to work with home designer but not anymore. Not sure where the problem was. I assume either something windows 10 did in a recent update or some change chief architect did recently to interact differently on the wifi communication, but it's all good now under windows 11!