SOLVED Shortcut (keyboard accelerator key) lag

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Click a program shortcut. The app launches immediately. Use shortcut keys and it takes four seconds.
e.g. - Click the Quicken shortcut: near instant launch. Use the keyboard keys specified for that SC <alt|ctrl|Q>: program opens in four seconds. Why?

This did not occur in Windows 7, 8 or 8.1, to my recollection. Shortcuts have been deleted and reconfigured. Didn't help.

 

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Update to the note below...
After install of Windows security update 3081455 on 9/17, the lag returned, (even after a reboot) - despite the processes below not running in the background. That update may or may not be the problem - but there definitely is one...

After extensive testing and dicussion with MS support, a manager pinned down the problem. It's a bug. Most folks don't use keyboard shortcuts so they're not likely to encounter it.

The lag occurs when STORE or CALCULATOR are running as a background process. MS has submitted the issue to developers. It's likely that a fix will be pushed ... one day.

 

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The update was NOT the problem. Something is interfering with background processes. Yet to be determined.

 

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Update, as of 10/26/15

After considerable experimentation it appears that the lag will occur when a STORE app (Calculator, for example) or "store" itself is listed in Task Manager background processes. Kill the process, and the lag vanishes. When the app is actually running, the process is listed under APPS, not background processes. Then at random times, often after a sleep cycle or at boot, the process will appear.

The only effective way found here to get rid of these "rogue" processes is to kill them with a command line similar to this: "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\wbem\WMIC.exe process WHERE name="Calculator.exe" call terminate" - either via a shortcut or the Task Scheduler, perhaps triggering on an event such as POWER-TROUBLESHOOTER event 1.

The speculated causes of this annoyance are discussed in this article and its embedded links... https://superuser.com/questions/426947/slow-windows-desktop-keyboard-shortcuts/957210#957210

Allegedly this is a longstanding issue, but I never experienced it prior to W10. It's disconcerting that an MS employee isn't assigned to regularly peruse Windows forums like these in order to spot problems, and report them to appropriate techs for resolution. That said, the chances of this getting fixed seem slim.

 

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Update, as of 12/5/15

At random times, often after a sleep cycle or at boot, items spontaneously appear as a background process - Calculator, (System) Settings, Store and possibly others.

https://superuser.com/questions/426947/slow-windows-desktop-keyboard-shortcuts/957210#957210 where "Helen" posted a workaround...

Disable Superfetch.
Click START, type "services", <enter>, double-click on SUPERFETCH. Stop it. Disable it.

No performance hit has been noted by doing so, and shortcuts launched via keyboard no longer lag. Fingers crossed.