diff --git a/app.go b/app.go
index bbddb68..a8012f7 100644
--- a/app.go
+++ b/app.go
@@ -964,7 +964,12 @@ func (a *App) startup(ctx context.Context) {
 	// impossible: the copy someone is actually running is not always the one they
 	// think they installed, and the version shown in the UI is the only clue.
 	exe, _ := os.Executable()
-	applog.Printf("startup: OpsLog %s — %s", appVersion, exe)
+	// Everything before this line is outside our control: Windows mapping a 30 MB
+	// binary, an antivirus reading all of it, and Wails creating the WebView2
+	// environment. Logging it separates "OpsLog is slow" from "starting OpsLog is
+	// slow", which are two different problems with two different fixes.
+	applog.Printf("startup: OpsLog %s — %s (%.0f ms before startup: exe load + WebView2)",
+		appVersion, exe, float64(time.Since(processStart).Microseconds())/1000)
 	applog.Printf("startup: data dir = %s", dataDir)
 	// The local SQLite file ALWAYS holds per-operator configuration — settings,
 	// station profiles, rigs/antennas, cluster nodes, UDP, QSL templates, award
@@ -1405,6 +1410,10 @@ func (a *App) startup(ctx context.Context) {
 func (a *App) domReady(ctx context.Context) {
 	a.restoreWindowPosition()
 	wruntime.WindowShow(ctx)
+	// The one number that matches what the operator actually experiences: click
+	// to window. Anything else measures a part of it.
+	applog.Printf("startup: window visible %.0f ms after launch",
+		float64(time.Since(processStart).Microseconds())/1000)
 }
 
 // StartupStatus returns a diagnostic snapshot for the frontend.
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 09abcc9..1a8bb5d 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -67,6 +67,17 @@ func acquireInstance(postUpdate bool) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
+// processStart is stamped on the very first instruction of main, before the
+// single-instance guard and before anything else runs.
+//
+// It exists to split a slow launch in two, because the log alone could not: the
+// first line applog writes already sits inside startup(), so everything spent
+// loading the binary and creating the WebView2 environment happened before the
+// log begins and was invisible. An operator reporting "nothing happens for three
+// seconds" was impossible to answer from a file whose first timestamp is the
+// moment the app was already running.
+var processStart = time.Now()
+
 func main() {
 	// Single-instance guard: if OpsLog is already running, focus that window and
 	// exit instead of spawning a duplicate. A second process would open its own