do you have reload painters when opening a workspace set ON? if it auto restores the painters, and it opens a DATAWINDOW and you have retrieve on preview, it will auto retrieve! and if you don't have access to your database, it will sit and spin....
you have to set OFF the retrieve on preview in the datawindow because for some crazy reason it is ON by default.
other thoughts:
do you have internet access? could be something blocking the license check.
do you have source code control on? maybe it can't access SCC system, and just spins while it waits for a timeout.
If you wait long enough, it is possible it will time out and tell you what it was waiting for.
