Local website page rendering very slow

I have a website of tomcat servlets running on my workstation.  When I don't have the IE/System Lockdown enabled, page rendering is immediate (they are just single PNG files).  Once I enable IE/System Lockdown, it introduces a significant delay in each page -- 2.5 - 3 seconds.  This will be unacceptable in a public kiosk.  How can I get rid of this delay?

Try disabling the System Lockdown > Local Level > No Desktop option. Your setup may require features of the Windows Desktop (explorer.exe). If this doesn't help, try disabling the "No Downloads" option under the IE Lockdown > Browser Options section.

Neither of those options had any effect.  I decided to disable limiting IE to the allowed sites, and that resolved THAT problem.  So, that leads me to 2 other questions:

1. Why would enabling limiting to only allowed sites introduce such a huge delay?, and
2. What are the ramifications now that I'm not limiting that?  I have IE running in kiosk mode.  Is there any way for someone to point the browser at any site other than the startup site?

If your kiosk is behind a firewall or proxy server, it may be blocking the access to Microsoft's content advisory URL which could cause the delay. As long as there is no navigation method within your website away from it, there is no risk for a user to access other sites. Be sure to have the "IE Lockdown > Browser Options >No New Window" option enabled.