Why does the MacOs Apps app look for an external computer and fail when it is no longer connected?

I use an external Windows PC for astrophotography and remotely connect to it. This has been working fine for over 6 months and I could shut down the remote PC and no issue for my Mac (M1 MacBook Pro). However recently (since Tahoe upgrade?), I am find that just opening the Apps app or using Spotlight search, both fail saying that they can't connect to the remote PC?

I can work around this by starting the PC or by turning off "Connected Servers" in the Finder Settings., but I shouldn't need to.

Any ideas?