Why is PowerShell Slower to Start Compared to CMD or Bash?

PowerShell does have more overhead since it's built on .NET and handles objects rather than just plain text. This extra capability naturally comes with some performance cost. But if your startup time is significantly lagging, it might be worth checking what’s in your profile or trying to launch it without the profile using `-noprofile`. That can help you see if your custom settings are causing the delay.

The slowdown in PowerShell startup is mainly due to how it initializes. Unlike CMD and Bash, which are relatively lightweight, PowerShell does a lot of heavy lifting. It spawns multiple threads and performs many registry and filesystem reads as it sets up the environment, loads module info, and configures various policies. If you compare them using a tool like Process Monitor, you'll see there's much more going on under the hood with PowerShell.

You're right in noting that PowerShell's startup does take longer, often due to loading configuration files and compiling modules. Bash and CMD don't have those complexities, so they can start faster. Additionally, if you’re using endpoint protection software, it might further slow down the loading of these resources, especially if they're on a network share. It's a tricky situation, and sometimes optimizing the profile can help improve the startup time.

Generally, CMD and Bash are less feature-rich compared to PowerShell, which contributes to the difference in performance. They do fewer tasks at startup, while PowerShell performs more checks and setups. Just because it takes longer doesn't mean it's inefficient; it has more to manage right from the get-go. If you're tweaking PowerShell for tasks that demand high speed, consider alternatives or optimizing your startup processes.