Workaround for the punkbuster-freezes and slow-downs in the game.
Delete the complete pb-folder, create a new pb-folder, copy pbsetup.exe in the pb-folder and start update. Create now in the pb-folder a file with the name "pbcl.cfg" and copy the following text in this file. (or download it)
PB_Security [0=no, 1=yes] When set to 0, PunkBuster will accept all "update" files without verifying that they are authentic; the default is 1 which should not normally be changed except for LAN environments where there is no Internet Access and/or you fully trust the Servers you are connecting to PB_Sleep [Period] Holds the period of time (milliseconds) that PunkBuster "sleeps" between processing cycles; the default is 60; lower numbers will cause PunkBuster to process events more times each second which also has the effect of increasing the bandwidth used by PunkBuster; Players with a modem connection will probably want to set this as high as possible