Mint 21.1: checking for updates takes approximate a minute and uses excessive CPU

[LinuxOnTheDesktop]

• On a laptop with an Intel Core i7-8550U (which is a quad-core), the new mintDrivers took about a minute to do its check.
• Whilst it was doing it the CPU was often at high frequencies (3GHz or higher) and the total CPU usage was some 20%; it looks as though the check was regularly maxing out (or nearly maxing out) one core.
• Consequently my CPU hit some 60 degrees C.

Such use of the CPU is not optimal.