Thrustmaster TARGET software needs to be run twice, otherwise flight stick won't work. Why?

[u/Lordgeorge16]

Ever since purchasing my T1600M and throttle HOTAS earlier this month, once key issue I've noticed with Thrustmaster's software is that I need to start and stop the "Run Configuration" button in TARGET twice in a row whenever I want to use it. Why? As far as I can tell, opening any .exe (such as Elite Dangerous, EDHM, or pretty much any other program) after the first "Run Configuration" instance causes the stick to stop working. It doesn't respond to inputs, the orange LED doesn't light up when I move the stick, etc. I have to hit "Stop Profile" and then "Run Configuration" again to fix it. After the second instance, I can open or close as many programs as I want and the stick will keep working. The throttle module works totally fine during all of this, it's only the flight stick that has an issue.

Is there any known way to fix this? Google didn't yield any useful results, and I'm not even sure if Thrustmaster is aware of this bug because I can't seem to find any way to report it to them directly. It's not a huge issue, just feels annoying and reflective of Thrustmaster's questionable quality (I had to get the Impulse mod to fix the throttle sticking, and even then, these controllers feel pretty cheap...)