This has been a problem for quite a few users over a number of versions.
Here, we have hardly ever seen this sluggish autosafe behaviour.
It runs smoothly in the background and only with larger project, incl. VSTi, it is noticeable, at all.
The only difference in setup to our e.g. office machines is: more power, no internet (only for updates
and authorisation procedures), no progs that aren’t “studio” or audio, except word, searchtool “Everything”
and some Piriform gadgets. Antivirus software has had no effects, but is not installed, a.t.m.
Mind you, some older plugins have caused severe problems earlier on. The shift to 64 bit brought some probs,
but this has all been sorted out, quite a while ago.
It is about time that the cause for this lame autosafe was discovered.
I can imagine that it is quite irritating…
Servus, Big K