Symantec Service Framework slows computer

Hi I have Norton internet Security Suite/Antivirus on my laptop.  Numerous times a day, my computer will freeze up or lag to the point of a crawl and when I check my task management it's always Symantec Service Framework that is causing the issue.  It has come to the point of my thinking about just getting rid of Norton completely because It causes so many issues!  Can someone please tell me what this is and how to stop this.  I have it set up to do things when no one is using the laptop, however this happens no less that 5-10 times a day!