Performance: Game pauses momentarily every one second after Sept. Update

Can anybody help me out? I've got an older Laptop, but adequate to run the game; I've been running it on here for years without a single problem. As of the new update, the game - including the POL Launcher - pauses for just a moment every single second.

The animation in between these pauses is smooth, but its all very disruptive and kinda kills the fun.

I've also noticed slight slowdown in the Xbox version since the update. May be related, maybe not.

So far, I've reinstalled the game, checked all my drivers, and run a handful of Diags, but nothing. In addition, other games that are 3D intensive still run fine.

Any ideas? Comments? Magic spells? ^^

Sounds like the exact problem I have having. My Laptop has and should easily have no difficulty running this game but since the update is briefly pausing for a fraction of a second at regular intervals of about a second making the game look slightly jerky. It happens regardless of how busy the area is and it even visible in the panning shots on the main menu and character creation menu.