Win 11 interface "freezes" (taskbar and Settings tab)

On my laptop (ASUS TUF A15 FA507NU) I had Win 11 Home pre installed, bought new from a trusted seller more than a year ago, they upgraded also the RAM to 32GB, Micron SSD as a system drive. Ever since I got it, I experience a weird 1-2 second freezes when opening the taskbar (the options in the right corner to access audio volume, wifi & Bluetooth etc). Same things happening also when opening Settings, and clicking into any subcategories (Display, Sound, Power etc) - everything just freezes for a second, and then opens the desired window. Also- the freeze seems to happen only once after booting the laptop, the next times I open taskbar or settings it's all good, during this current session of laptop being on. My question is - can it be related to Windows, or rather hardware component of the laptop? I did check Google and Windows forums, but no thread seems to be addressing the same issue (it's not graphics driver related I believe). I tried with different power plans, taskbar modules enables/ disabled. NOTE - I did change the location so my taskbar is on left lower corner, like the classic Win 10. Any tips appreciated, bc I may miss something simple to check or tweak.