Slow/Glitchy Previewing in AE

Hey there, my AE recently updated itself (yesterday I think) and ever since I can't work in AE because it won't let me play smoothly to see what's happening. It's on "Quarter" rendering like usual, but when I hit the spacebar to play.. it's just impossible to watch. So slow and glitchy, and usually it plays as smooth as butter with no issues. This is a brand new computer so my storage is fine, it shouldn't be acting this way. Also, this current project I'm working on has zero effects or transitions so it should play smoothly, usually it slows down slightly with alot of effects but this one has none. Is it a bug in the system because it just updated? I need to finish my project soon but it's completely unworkable like this.