As a total newbie as far as DNN is concerned can anyone help with this?

I have just launched my first DNN site, through a supplier I use, the DNN version is not terribly current, so this may be the cause of my problem.

DNN version 4.0.1 ( I know there are more recent ones)
Data provider SqlDAtaProvider
.Net framework 2.0.50727.42

The site front end looks great and responds well, there are not too many fancy modules in it, mainly TExt/HTML, Mail Opt in, and a dynamic forms module from datasprings.com. Pain in the b*m that one.

My problem happens when I sign into the back end to edit the content of modules, eg the Dynamic forms one. Any action I carry out takes 12-20+ seconds!

eg.

Step 1

Dynamic forms > Manage Questions / settings,  (mouse click 13 seconds response time)

next 
Step 2

General settings > General settings > Form completion event > select event "email event - here's one I made earlier!

Select Dynamic fields drop down select "First name" field, response 20 seconds before screen refresh, update form with some sort of info, click "Update Event" response time 12 seconds.

Select "email event" again to edit next field in the event list ie Surname  response 20 seconds AAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!

This is killing me, I have

forname
surname
email
addr 1
addr 2 
town
postcode 
tel no 
occupation
free form text box what do you want?.

So 10 x 20 seconds to edit each field + 10 x 12 seconds for a response inbetween field update.
320 or so seconds to edit a form containing address/enquiry details, argh I want to die.
The site has it's own app pool, makes no difference, worse than watching paint dry.

Please can anyone point a finger at why the response times using the editor are so poor, is it due to the version of DNN the site is using? Or is there another reason with a fix? 
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I said earlier I have not used DNN before, the idea is great, but if these response times are normal, then I'll go back to an advertising hoarding.

At the moment I am tied to version 4.0.2, but I have been told that 4.4.1 is coming in, could this help.

Sorry if I am asking dumb questions (on the wrong forum), but I need to get them out the way before I can start asking the clever ones!

Thanks in advance.

Thanks Mitchel,

I am going to do some more testing on other modules, but the back end does seem really slow.

I will do some more analysis over the weekend, the dynamic forms module is HORRIBLE but there are others that are slow too, I'll get some more accurate figures.

It just seems odd that the front end responses for the site aren't bad, but the editor sucks big time!

Update later thanks, Rob