[Evolution] Message composition freezes regulary

[J Black <evolution jblack org>]

Hello.

I'm using Evolution 1.4.4 on Mandrake 9.2.  I've had a problem with
Evolution ever since installing these versions of Mandrake and
Evolution:

Whenever I'm editing a message and typing away, the compose window
freezes for about 5 seconds every 60 seconds.  The cursor stops
blinking, and whatever I type doesn't appear until the 5 seconds is up. 
(It's done it twice just typing these sentences!)  Even typing a single
character into the message window is enough to trigger this behavior.

I don't notice this in other apps like Mozilla or OpenOffice, and I
didn't have this problem in Mandrake 9.1 (don't know which version of
Evolution.)

I've tried disabling message retrieval and spell check, but that doesn't
help.

Any ideas on what might be the problem?
What does Evolution do every minute that might be causing the problem?

Thanks in advance,

- J Black