QGIS Desktop not installing

I am trying to install the QGIS Desktop application on Windows 10.

Upon a successful install, only the OSGeo4W Shell and the Grass GIS 7.8.5 are there on the apps list (within the QGIS folder), the actual QGIS Desktop app is not there.

I get the .exe file from the regular qggis dot come downloads website ("QGIS-OSGeo4W-3.16.5-1-Setup-x86_64").

I’ve tried with both the 64-bit standalone installers for 3.16 Hanover and (latest) 3.18 Zurich version. This process has worked just fine in the past.

My computer’s virus protection program Sophos Endpoint Agent keeps detecting and clearing a file named nircmd.exe from the QGIS/3.1x/bin folder, wondering if that has anything to do with it (says "Threats cleaned up. NirCmd detected at file path…"). I don’t know what I’m doing wrong now or what is missing. Please help.