(v3) Real time protection causes my PC to freeze

Hello,
Got v3.0.684 running on WinXP SP3. Ran fine for a couple of months, when suddenly the PC began to freeze (not completely but all actions became very very slow). Even logging in has been taking a lot of time. Only thing that helps is disabling the antivirus and spyware protection from the client's menu. When doing this, everything comes back to normal.
BTW, I found this in the ESET knowledge base. Although it's relevant for v4, I gave the explanation there a try, yet it didn't help.
Appreciate any help.
D.

 

any errors in eventviewer logs?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

 

Do you use default settings? Does disabling only real-time protection make a difference?

 

Nope, nothing special in the event log.
BTW, searched for threads with similar problems, and this came up, but the link to article within is dead.
Thanks,
D.

 

I believe I use the default settings (don't recall changing anything there). What do you mean by disabling only real time protection? Only option I have is by right clicking the client's icon and disabling the antivirus and antispyware protection. This does the difference. Re-enabling it causes my PC to become "sticky" once again.
Thanks,
D.

 

Well, also tried reinstalling - keeps doing the same.
BTW, problem is not that NOD32 hogs the CPU. CPU usage is low. It seems that when real time protection is on, just about anything I'm trying to perform on the PC (even switching between windows) takes a lot of time. Seems like I have to uninstall NOD32, something which I really don't wanna do.
D.