Windows 7 critiques?

[Cerwin_Vega]

So I've installed Windows 7 RC and so far absolutely love it. Has anyone had negative experiences? Has anyone installed the RC and gone back to XP or Vista?

[shifty]

I haven't had a single critique. I actually like it. It's not as comfortable and clear as XP, but it is way more advanced, 2x faster and more rock solid than Vista, even in the Beta form (I haven't grabbed the RC yet).

[Wes]

It works ok. Can't really tell the different on performance compare to XP that I'm still using everyday. However, I played a bit warhammer on it and the performance was quite poor compare to XP.

[=A!M=OakWind]

I assume that both beta and RC will deactivate after a time?

[Cerwin_Vega]

I assume that both beta and RC will deactivate after a time?

You get a full year with RC.

I've not seen any slow downs in WAR or any other games I've played lately. I actually saw a slight boost in performance in WAR but that could have been due to a 1.5 year old xp install failing.

[shifty]

RC is good till Summer of 2010.

[Ninjahedge]

Then what happens?

You have to buy it again just to keep your machine running?

[dragonash]

"thank you for testing our new OS and giving us valuable info for free. Dont let the door hit you where the good lord split you"

[garm]

Can you install RC on dual boot?

[shifty]

Can you install RC on dual boot?

.... good luck.

(with which OS pair?)

[Cerwin_Vega]

Can you install RC on dual boot?

.... good luck.

(with which OS pair?)

I have Vista Ultimate 64bit primary install and Windows 7 Ultimate RC 64bit dual booted as a secondary install. I only installed Vista first because W7's dos installer didn't recognize my DVD so I installed W7 from within Vista.

I've installed XP Pro 32bit inside VMware 6.5 to VPN to my work which surprisingly works great. I figured if W7 was going to fail on anything it would be that but low and behold it pulled through. :D

[shifty]

Wes was trying to get XP and W7 cooperating together, but the bootloader is different in W7, and I am pretty sure it nuked any ability to boot to the XP partition.

[Ninjahedge]

I wonder if this is something you can do a manual (BIOS) boot with. IOW, choose which HD you want to boot first and have a different OS on each.

I would prefer DB.

Again, I have looked around, but have not found the answer to the license agreement thing. Will W7 demand me pay M$ $100 a year for it?

[shifty]

What?

If you have the RC installed, you will need to uninstall it when it prompts you in summer 2010.

Licensing is a one-shot payment of $119 for Home Premium (that I know of right now), with Professional coming in around $199. At least, this is what I remember. One-time fee.

[Zaphod]

don't know if it is still going on, but if you go to microsoft's site, they are/were running a special to pre-order. you could get home premium for $49 and pro for $99. they didn't offer a pre-order deal for ultimate though, so that will cost ya close to $300.

there really wasn't a big difference between pro and ultimate, from a general user perspective. ultimate has some more of the enterprise stuff in it, like bit locker and win xp vm mode built in. since i don't use bit locker and i use virtualbox for my vm needs, i opted for pro.

and so far, i absolutely love win 7. i had some issues with some of the early betas, but the rc has been rock solid for me.

[shifty]

that deal ended on june 11th. newegg was participating as well, along with a lot of other retailers.

[Cerwin_Vega]

since i don't use bit locker and i use virtualbox for my vm needs, i opted for pro.

Do you like Virtualbox better than VMware? Virtualbox looks pretty good.

[Zaphod]

Honestly, I can't really answer that question as I've only used VMWare at work and then only from a server perspective, and minimally I might add. Sorry...

Now, I guess I could have grabbed a copy of VMWare from work, but I didn't want to go through the corporate hassle, so my options boiled down to MS VirtualPC and VirtualBox. Honestly for what I do with VMs, either one would work fine for me. But, I just found VirtualBox to be more flexible from a configuration standpoint and faster than VPC. What really sold me was when I needed to convert a VMWare image to one of the two and VB worked, For whatever reason at the time I had problems trying to get it working with VPC. Lastly, VB seems to get updated more frequently (good or bad? your call! :) ) Ultimately though, it really depends on what you're gonna use the VMs for.

[Zaphod]

Actually, speaking of VMs...

One of the main reasons I use them is because I have created an image of my work PC and I run that in a VM at home so I can use our VPN into work without having to bring my laptop home. It works great! But, I use VirtualBox to do this and I'm wondering about the "seemless" XP mode that comes with Win 7 Ultimate.

What I'm wondering is if that would work given that this "seemless" VM stuff doesn't sound the same. IOW, the reason it works with VB is because when I launch the VPN app and connect to our network it checks some specific things like virus software manufacturer/version/dat file, a few registry settings, and a couple other things. Well, obviously everything checks out since the VB image is a complete OS with all the necessary settings. But how would this 'seemless' mode work for something like that? Is there a separate registry? What if you have AV software already installed, does it just use that? I guess since I've not seen it, I find it a little difficult to understand.

Has anybody played with this 'seemless' mode? Does it work well and do you think it would work in the scenario I described?

Thanks and sorry for the threadjack! :)

[Cerwin_Vega]

Has anybody played with this 'seemless' mode? Does it work well and do you think it would work in the scenario I described?

Thanks and sorry for the threadjack! :)

I kinda redirected the thread so no worries. I pretty much got my answer.

I didn't know 7 Ultimate had a VM built in. I'll try toying with that some time and see how that works out.

[Ninjahedge]

So you have to re-up the license each year on the base OS?

Greedy bastiches. I guess they figured hey were not making enough money SELLING all this stuff to people, so now they are trying, again, to lease it.


I really hate that.

[shifty]

So you have to re-up the license each year on the base OS?

Greedy bastiches. I guess they figured hey were not making enough money SELLING all this stuff to people, so now they are trying, again, to lease it.


I really hate that.

What the hell are you talking about?

[dragonash]

getting vista/win7/xp running in dual boot was fine for me.

Yes, the problem comes with the boot loader borking XP's. But that is easily resolved with a mbr repair i think (once win7/vista is uninstalled)

[Ninjahedge]

What the hell are you talking about?

What?

If you have the RC installed, you will need to uninstall it when it prompts you in summer 2010.

Licensing is a one-**** payment of $119 for Home Premium (that I know of right now), with Professional coming in around $199. At least, this is what I remember. One-time fee.

RC = Registered Copy?

[Saboteur]

Release Candidate

[shifty]

Release Candidate is free to the public. It is for testing, etc. Like an "almost golden" beta, a candidate for final release.

[Cerwin_Vega]

getting vista/win7/xp running in dual boot was fine for me.

Yes, the problem comes with the boot loader borking XP's. But that is easily resolved with a mbr repair i think (once win7/vista is uninstalled)

After a little reading I think installing either Vista or XP BEFORE W7 is the key.

[dragonash]

I believe i tried that.... unless somethign changed.


.... actually, come to think of it, i ran all 3 each on a separate drive because i wasnt confident that it wouldnt mess up my XP install lol

I think I had to do a MBR repair regardless

[Ninjahedge]

Release Candidate is free to the public. It is for testing, etc. Like an "almost golden" beta, a candidate for final release.

I see.... Acronym trouble.[/Daffy Duck]

[Ninjahedge]

What?

If you have the RC installed, you will need to uninstall it when it prompts you in summer 2010.

Licensing is a one-**** payment of $119 for Home Premium (that I know of right now), with Professional coming in around $199. At least, this is what I remember. One-time fee.


$119 and $199. Yep. (just checked).

I am wondering if it is worth it to upgrade on my 3 year old Duo though.

I dread having to pay $400 for an OS as a stand alone if I build a new machine! I wonder if the deals will be good for OEM copies through build-it-yourself deals....

Also, the Home version does not look like it has guaranteed/free XP backwards compatibility, which could be a bummer on some things.... I do not know exactly what the difference would be between the two other than that (they list haves, not have nots on each, and they are not very succinct in telling you. It was like I wrote the descriptions!!!!)

[shifty]

Well, let's see....

On Friday night, I was looking for a shop manual for the Kawasaki 454 LTD that I just acquired for the cost of a title reissue, and I hit TorrentReactor for something. Within 5 seconds, I was infected Pirate Bay style with some severely nasty, yet undocumented rootkit, which took me (literally) 9 hours to isolate, stop it from sending out emails on port25 like mad, disable the service, registry entry and system files which were cleverly hidden from the Windows API completely (I couldn't see them)...ComboFix, MWB, Avira, HJT and GMER later, I was finally able to isolate all the undocumented/unrecognized files, then I zipped them up and sent them out to various sources for review and addition to definition files somewhere.

I know I killed it, 99.9% sure, but the 0.1% uncertainty left me feeling like I could never safely access anything personal/sensitive in case a piece was still on my system watching, so I saved off my important files and installed Windows 7 RC 32-bit edition, since 64-bit wouldn't install with my centrino duo laptop, which is a Dell D620 that is about 4 years old now.

It installed without a problem. In fact, it picked up all the drivers except video, which it was using a generic driver for. I hit nVidia only to find that their driver for Windows 7 gave "no supported card". Then I went to Windows update and Microsoft already had one! :D

So, in a nutshell:

4 year old system.
Windows 7 32-bit installed and found all drivers but one.
The one driver it couldn't find and updated drivers were available at Windows Update immediately after install.

I don't think you'll have a problem.

[Ninjahedge]

Oh, I don't mean that way shift... although I do mean it a little!!! ;) (USB MM surround headphones from Turtle, the 4870 card, and other weird stuff has a ay of not working when I try something different...)

What I am wondering about is whether it is worth it to do it or not....


Also, what the HELL is it with windows making its browsers so vulnerable? Maybe it needs to make the browser run in its own shell so that anything it installs can only be in its own virtual machine? I don't know, it just gets me that no active participation can get you infected. It is one thing if you install something, but simply visiting a site?

It's like getting Herpes from looking at a stripper.

[shifty]

Also, what the HELL is it with windows making its browsers so vulnerable?

I got infected using Firefox, though. Why don't I ever hear FF users ***** about it?

Because they're all just as vulnerable at any given time.


Maybe it needs to make the browser run in its own shell so that anything it installs can only be in its own virtual machine?

Google: Sandboxie



It's like getting Herpes from looking at a stripper.

Is that what you told your wife?

My real question is, why is it not worth it? It's a solid OS. Works well. Why stick with what will soon be the next Win9x or Win2k (unsupported, no new security patches, etc)?

[Ninjahedge]

$200.

That's why. ;)

[shifty]

I dunno. It's a pretty nice OS. I'm sure you'll see deals come out of the woodwork.

[shifty]

i think they should do family packs - get the OS and 3-4 licenses for $250 kind of thing.

[Ninjahedge]

That would be handy. That and transferability (you do a major swap, just move the OS to teh new machine IF you buy that package instead of the single license.....)

[shifty]

If you buy Retail, that is how the license works. Only OEM is bound to the single CPU, IIRC. Volume License is bound by nothing, really (least limitations possible). And even the OEM version's COA sticker states "1-2 CPU installation" or something, so you can technically install for 2 CPU's.

And, FTR, I have had no problems taking OEM versions of XP and re-registering with a new CPU/MOBO, calling the 800-number, and having them authorize it. All you gotta do is tell them that you had some capacitors leak all over the mainboard, and had to replace your motherboard and CPU, and you upgraded memory and HDD while you're at it. I've done this about a half a dozen times.

I don't imagine W7 will be much diff't.

[dragonash]

Google: Sandboxie



downloaded and using it at work now.

i will experiment with it here, then put it on my computers at home once im used to it.

Any performance hits?

[shifty]

I dunno, I don't use it. I just know that it exists, and I know it has prevented several infections on friends' computers - the fellas that like to go to every site and do everything "normal" users shouldn't do.

[dragonash]

hmm...well, it doesnt work with 64bit windows, so i wont be using it at home at all.

I might just use it at work for my browser.

[Ninjahedge]

I will take a look.

It just strikes me as interesting to set up everythnig as temporary, so if something infects you, you can just shut down the system and reload it back into memory, almost like doing a reformat/reinstall.....

You would think with all the problems that these machines have been having that they would try to come up with that one degree of seperation that would allow it, especially with machines sporting 2G+ of memory as common these days.....

[Muscat]

Dam guys you are always in Warhammer after all those months?:eek:

[=A!M=OakWind]

I use sandboxie mostly for public torrent sites and keygens. It is a little more difficult to use when you want to save something to the hard drive like bookmarks or files, but still possible. There is a tutorial on their forums to pull these kind of things out of memory, and to setup web browser with it.

[Ninjahedge]

Can you deliberately save things out to link with the torrent proggie?

[=A!M=OakWind]

If you want to save a *.torrent file to hard drive from a browser running in a sandbox, then yes.

Looking at it again... And it looks like they've implemented saving bookmarks and files outside the sandbox.

I can't seem to find that tutorial I was talking about, but here is a page for setting up a web browser: http://www.sandboxie.com/index.php?FirefoxTips

I'm using a friends PC at the moment and can't use the program to give any detailed info. My mobo is in RMA.

[Ninjahedge]

Good, BTW, I have heard of discount "home" licenses available (3 per one roof?).....


I will find it later.

[shifty]

yeah, i am pretty sure you can buy "student packs" with XP. but i haven't looked into it in a while.

i know several folks in college, i'm just going to have them get me a copy. it's usually 30% -50% off.

[Ninjahedge]

Heh. I will probably have to pay a student at Stevens for a copy.
:P

[Ninjahedge]

Questions on this.

1. Which version is worth getting for the computer literate? I never liked the previous "home" versions, but is Professional worth it? Ultimate?

2. It seems like the current deals out there on pre-order are cheaper for the whole thing than for the Upgrade (no deal). Am I reading this right? (Newegg)

3. Can this be used on another machine? If I do a dual boot on my existing machine, will I still be able to boot to XP if I get a new machine and re-register this on the new one?

4. Does "upgrade" need a fully registered copy of XP?

5. Does the full version have an upgrade that will not force you to re-install all your previous MS and other apps? (Office, etc).

6. Is Ultimate the only one with an XP sim? Would it be the only version I could still run any non-transferred XP apps?

I would like to upgrade, but I am worried that it might be a huge hassle, especially on an older E6600 processor/3 year old (about) machine. (It will be 3 years old on 10/25... Happy birthday?)

[dragonash]

here is how microsoft would officially throw a party for win7
http://mashable.com/2009/09/23/party-like-microsoft/

.... and see below it for the remix ;)

[Wes]

Awhile ago I asked how to remove the Win 7's boot manager, turns out it is outrageously easy. Just put in the win7 dvd or mount the ISO and run:

<For XP> <DVD>:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
<For Vista> <DVD>:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 ALL /force

Just did it on my XP. :)

[Ninjahedge]

Um.... what's a boot manager?

[Wes]

When Win7 boot up, it gave me a choice of XP that I had or Win7. Default is Win7, which is ultimately irritating since I only tried to test it. No way to edit it or remove it before.

[Ninjahedge]

The question would be then, those comments merely make teh default switch to XP or 7?

[Wes]

No, the command changed the boot sector back to the way it was. It's more like completely remove the Windows 7's boot screen, which is what I wanted.

[tensux]

installed ulitmate 64 bit on a machine yesterday, used the same username that i was using with winxp, lost everything with that username, LOL, pst file everything

i like win7 but i wish the show desktop button was on the left, i would have thought they finally would have made the msconfig dialog box sizable, and the search function was far better in vista

[Saboteur]

I have a new work laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on it. I haven't done much to it yet other than install Firefox and open Outlook.

Both yesterday and today, it has just been sitting there untouched on the corner of my desk and it will blue-screen.

I think its related to Symantec, but still... holy crap. Is the OS that fragile?

[shifty]

Sab, I haven't shared that experience. I have yet to buy an OEM computer with it pre-installed though. I've been installing from scratch.

If I were you - personally - I would image the stock drive, format, and reinstall W7. But that's just me.

[shifty]

i like win7 but i wish the show desktop button was on the left, i would have thought they finally would have made the msconfig dialog box sizable, and the search function was far better in vista

Even better - "show desktop" is now in the ALT+TAB menu. But you can also show the desktop by pressing WINDOW+D (show desktop) or WINDOW+M (minimize all).

Hardest thing to adjust to was categorization of items and the loss or change in function of the quick-launch area.

I've never had to use MSCONFIG, and use command-line to search, so ... ?

[dragonash]

i have yet to install win7 pro since i still cant get my damn video card lol

[tensux]

i have it on two machines, one was flwless, fresh install, the other i lost so much stuff, and that one i had two items i need to find drivers for, happuage usb2 and turtle sound card. i havent looked on the website yet, i cant remote into it for some reason, i did no prob at first and now can only remote into one of them

[Saboteur]

Sab, I haven't shared that experience. I have yet to buy an OEM computer with it pre-installed though. I've been installing from scratch.

If I were you - personally - I would image the stock drive, format, and reinstall W7. But that's just me.
I'll forward your suggestion on to our IT gang. (I may be their manager in a few weeks so ... :))

The problem is that I have to get my old work laptop returned to Dell and I have to get transitioned onto this new one so I may not have time to have a lot of things done to it before I have to make it my main machine.

Background: work provided me a Dell XPS-1730 (really a gaming rig) for the extra horsepower. The SLI video card broke and Dell couldn't get a replacement for it. After trying for a month, they finally gave me a downgraded video card so that I had (relatively) full functionality. Finally they came to me and said, "We don't know when we can get a replacement. How about a nice, shiny new Precision M6400 in exchange?"

That's why there is some pressure to make the switch quickly.

Our IT team took the stock image and added Symantec, Office and a few other tidbits and gave it to me yesterday.

[shifty]

Yeah, usually I don't trust Dell's stock image (usually XP on ours). I take an image of the stock drive with XP, then remove all the Dell crapware (it's less than most OEMs), I build it up with our stuff and take a rollout image and I usually take over the computer and use the hell out of it. If a problem comes up, which happens occasionally, I fix the problem and update the rolout image, and when I'm convinced it's running solid, I start purchasing the laptops in bulk.

The first time a problem comes up that I can't solve, I format and reinstall XP from scratch, sometimes the Dell crap leaves remnants - it's really, really bad on the new 12" and 13" E-series like the E4300, keep getting BSODs, and it was remnants from the Dell Control Point software causing every last bit of it. I just had to format an E4300 and go through this process, but it's so late in the game that I've gotta basically backup, wipe and re-image 5 employee laptops. :mad:

But yeah....I would go through that process.

A note about Win7. VPN connectivity software hasn't caught up. If you use Juniper firewalls in your environment, Netscreen Remote hasn't caught up yet, and it won't install. They use Safenet (rebranded). I've found that both Greenbow IPSec client and Cyberoam (rebranded Greenbow) both work really well in Win7, but the user interface is craptastic, nowhere near as simple as Safenet/NSR. I can't wait to have something more rock-solid in the future.

[Ninjahedge]

Would it really be worth getting Ultimate (OEM) and try a dual boot config on an E6600 (2.4G duo)?

Or is that just wasting money on something that does not have the oomph to do much with a $150+ "upgrade"?

I have been tempted, but I have heard that some have had problems and others it is smooth as silk.

DX10+ would be nice, and so would 64bit (although I think I can't use all 4G on the machine because of heat).... Whatever.

How does Office 2K3 work on this? Any problems? Any other older software problems?

[shifty]

Dude, seriously? I'm running 7 ultimate on my laptop. Centrino Duo T2300 (1.67Ghz) and 2GB of RAM. So, I dunno where you're getting your "not enough oomph" from, but it is lightning fast on my laptop. E6600 is actually a really robust and powerful chip, and if mine is any indication, you should be more than fine. My AMD64 3200+ (754 pin) at work with 2GB RAM was also fast as hell.

I am using MSO 2003. No problems. No other software problems, except with my VPN client.

Seriously....there is a reason I am raving like this. I've had amazing experience so far.

[Ninjahedge]

I never said "not enough oomph" ;) (I said does not have the oomph! :D)

Not dissing the OS, just worried about dropping $$ for something that is working fine now w/o it...

[dragonash]

can you suggest any good free imaging software?
I found a few here http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml but i wanted to know if there were others

[shifty]

I don't use free. One of my motherboards came with Acronis True Image 2009. I've been using the hell out of it. Put it on my system, created a bootable image, burned to disc, use it religiously.

[tensux]

i have it one my work laptop now too, i couldn't get a 64bit video driver for it though so had to use the 32bit version, i did notice when i had the 64bit version installed initially, it still said 4.gb, 3.25 usable, i thought with the 64bit i would have been able to use all 4gb

also i found there are easy fixes to pin a showdesktop to the left hand side of the screen where it belongs, and i am figuring out the changes in the search function

[Saboteur]

FWIW - I loathe the fact that MS had eliminated the classic start menu. I don't want to have to use a mouse every time I want to navigate the menu, and that the menu is kept condensed in the area of the menu and doesn't expand across the screen.

Not saying I hate the new menu, I just hate that it being shoved down my throat. Users should be able to make a choice. I'm accustomed (after 13 or so years now) to using the keyboard to navigate the menu, but now any keystrokes after hitting the Windows key go into the search box rather than moving through the menu itself.

Am I missing something? I admittedly haven't dug into things extensively (because of the BSODs and just being busy with regular work). I think there may be an add-on to get something like the CSM back.

It feels like MS just moved the gas pedal to the other side of the brake pedal just because they wanted to.

[Dr. Death]

I'm getting a brand new W7 laptop this week (Toshiba.) I'll give my thoughts then...

[=A!M=OakWind]

I hated the start menu also, but I started pining my most used apps to the task bar and find I don't use it any more.

[Zaphod]

Hmmm, I actually like the new start menu and I use the keyboard a lot too. The reason I like it is because I can hit the Windows key, type an app name or filename, hit enter and done! It's like having the Run command right there. I used to use a little free utility called SlickRun (http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/) when I had XP. With W7 I find I don't need that anymore, for what I used it for.

[Dr. Death]

Well I've been using it for about a day. Seems a lot like Vista (more of a change from XP to Vista than from Vista to 7.)

I keep my taskbar on the right. I like lots of vertical screen space. The stuff pinned to the taskbar was a waste, so I created my own "Quick Launch" toolbar, switched to small icons, and now I have more room for the stuff I use a lot. If pin to taskbar had allowed the icons to fill in multiple rows or columns, it might have been useful to me.

As for a Run... command, I just added it to the main Start Menu.

Yeah Windows 7 seems faster than Vista, but this laptop is faster than the Vista one, so I can't really tell if it's more that or more the efficiency of the OS. I do know that I've been on battery for about 3 hours now. It has a 12 cell LI pack that actually sticks out the bottom of the case, forming a tilt stand and adding to the cooling airspace under the machine.

(Side comment on crapware--this Toshiba came with an "Eco" utility, that tracks power savings when in eco mode vs. normal mode. Nothing like having a useless utility wasting cpu cycles telling me how much power i'm saving. :rolleyes: I uninstalled it.)

[tensux]

what are the new laptops getting on the windows experience index?

[Dr. Death]

Heh.

Mine gets a 3.4 because of the "gaming graphics" index (Intel GMA.) They use the lowest index as the overall, not an average or weighted average number.

The other numbers are:

CPU: 6.4
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 4.1
HDD: 5.6

[tensux]

wow thats fast

i have a 3 year old laptop that i like and dont want to upgrade, i was wondering how much faster the new ones are

CPU: 5.0
Memory: 5.0
Graphics: 3.5
Gaming Graphics 3.6
HDD: 4.7

[Dr. Death]

Here are the specs on mine:

Toshiba L550-ST2722

T9600 CPU, 2.8 GHz, 6 MB L2, 1066 FSB
Last time I priced this machine, the T9600 was about 300.00 more than the next smallest/slowest CPU with 3 MB cache (P8700). This time it was only 120.00 more. The L2 sold me, not the speed.
4 GB PC6400 DDR2
500 GB SATA 5400 RPM
12 Cell LI battery
17.3" LED backlit display (reduces power consumption)

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

What's yours? Are there components in it that could be easily upgraded? Faster CPU, more/faster memory, better HDD, etc?

For example, mine came with a range of 5 possible CPUs, the top 4 of which all use the same system board/chipset. If it wasn't bought with the top of the line chip, I bet it could be swapped for a faster one.

(Shifty, wanna just rename this thread "Laptop discussion"? ROFL.)

[shifty]

I've got a Dell Latitude D620, Intel Centrino Duo T2300 (http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27233) @ 1.66GHz and 667FSB, 2GB RAM

I get a 3.5 score overall, primarily for the graphics.

CPU: 4.1
Memory: 4.8
Graphics: 3.7
Gaming Graphics 3.5
HDD: 5.3

I'm running W7 Ultimate 32-bit RC, and I gotta say, it's really fast as hell.

[tensux]

dell E1705

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz 5.0
Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB 5.0
Graphics ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 3.5
Gaming graphics 1023 MB Total available graphics memory 3.6
Primary hard disk 45GB Free (149GB Total) 4.7

[dragonash]

dunno about everyone else, but it feels like Windows Explorer stops working for every other thing and restarts

[Dr. Death]

Should not be doing that...

[tensux]

has only happened once to me

[shifty]

never seen it happen on any of the systems I'm running it on.

[Dr. Death]

Post a HJT log. The only thing that would make explorer crash is bad software, and bad software includes malware.

[tensux]

my laptop is too old to upgrade, i bumped the ram to 4gb recently which makes a difference when i am at work and i switch between my work logon and my home one, other than that it is is pretty quick, its so old i wouldnt put any more money into it, it has a ultra bright screen 1980X12000 screen, which seems to have lost some brightness over the years, or it could be that the new screens just look better, there is a guy at work who just bought a new mac book which i could never get used to, no left and right buttons on the touch pad, but the screen is so much brighter and better looking

Here are the specs on mine:

Toshiba L550-ST2722

T9600 CPU, 2.8 GHz, 6 MB L2, 1066 FSB
Last time I priced this machine, the T9600 was about 300.00 more than the next smallest/slowest CPU with 3 MB cache (P8700). This time it was only 120.00 more. The L2 sold me, not the speed.
4 GB PC6400 DDR2
500 GB SATA 5400 RPM
12 Cell LI battery
17.3" LED backlit display (reduces power consumption)

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

What's yours? Are there components in it that could be easily upgraded? Faster CPU, more/faster memory, better HDD, etc?

For example, mine came with a range of 5 possible CPUs, the top 4 of which all use the same system board/chipset. If it wasn't bought with the top of the line chip, I bet it could be swapped for a faster one.

(Shifty, wanna just rename this thread "Laptop discussion"? ROFL.)

[dragonash]

Post a HJT log. The only thing that would make explorer crash is bad software, and bad software includes malware.

completely brand new rig i built with win7 being a clean install.
no maleware at all

i just got the error 3 times in a row while trying to right click on my desktop!
... and again when i opened hijackthis lol

Well.. win7 zooms through the explorer restarts faster than any other OS
----------------------------------------

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.3 (BETA)
Scan saved at 3:35:40 PM, on 12/13/2009
Platform: Unknown Windows (WinNT 6.01.3504)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.7600.16385)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avgnt.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageMonitor.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\TrendMicro\HiJackThis\HiJackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StartCCC] "C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CLIStart.exe" MSRun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ATICustomerCare] "C:\Program Files (x86)\ATI\ATICustomerCare\ATICustomerCare.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avgnt] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avgnt.exe" /min
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TrueImageMonitor.exe] C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\TrueImageHome\TrueImageMonitor.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SUPERAntiSpyware] C:\Program Files (x86)\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [uTorrent] "C:\Program Files (x86)\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe"
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O16 - DPF: {E2883E8F-472F-4FB0-9522-AC9BF37916A7} - http://platformdl.adobe.com/NOS/getPlusPlus/1.6/gp.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: !SASWinLogon - C:\Program Files (x86)\SUPERAntiSpyware\SASWINLO.dll
O23 - Service: Acronis Scheduler2 Service (AcrSch2Svc) - Acronis - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\Schedule2\schedul2.exe
O23 - Service: Acronis Nonstop Backup service (afcdpsrv) - Acronis - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Acronis\CDP\afcdpsrv.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: AMD External Events Utility - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\atiesrxx.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Avira AntiVir Scheduler (AntiVirSchedulerService) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\sched.exe
O23 - Service: Avira AntiVir Guard (AntiVirService) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avguard.exe
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 7091 bytes

[dragonash]

Here are some examples of the errors (i like the new options to copy errors easily in event viewer :) )
--------------------------


Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 12/13/2009 3:35:31 PM
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Beast-DT
Description:
Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 6.1.7600.16404, time stamp: 0x4a765771
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5be02b
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000000029328
Faulting process id: 0xf0c
Faulting application start time: 0x01ca7c331fa9f511
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 0dc73849-e827-11de-b087-90e6ba2faf45
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-12-13T20:35:31.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>2530</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Beast-DT</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>explorer.exe</Data>
<Data>6.1.7600.16404</Data>
<Data>4a765771</Data>
<Data>ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data>6.1.7600.16385</Data>
<Data>4a5be02b</Data>
<Data>c0000005</Data>
<Data>0000000000029328</Data>
<Data>f0c</Data>
<Data>01ca7c331fa9f511</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\explorer.exe</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data>0dc73849-e827-11de-b087-90e6ba2faf45</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

------------------------------------------------
Log Name: System
Source: srv
Date: 12/13/2009 3:33:17 PM
Event ID: 2017
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Beast-DT
Description:
The server was unable to allocate from the system nonpaged pool because the server reached the configured limit for nonpaged pool allocations.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="srv" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">2017</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-12-13T20:33:17.915564600Z" />
<EventRecordID>5404</EventRecordID>
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Beast-DT</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>\Device\LanmanServer</Data>
<Binary>0000040001002C0000000000E10700C0000000009A0000C000 00000000000000000000000000000005000000</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

------------------------------------------------

Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 12/13/2009 3:30:33 PM
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Beast-DT
Description:
Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 6.1.7600.16404, time stamp: 0x4a765771
Faulting module name: msvcrt.dll, version: 7.0.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bdfbe
Exception code: 0xc000041d
Fault offset: 0x000000000000120b
Faulting process id: 0x10d8
Faulting application start time: 0x01ca7c331dc91f19
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\msvcrt.dll
Report Id: 5c3d9d90-e826-11de-b087-90e6ba2faf45
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-12-13T20:30:33.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>2518</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Beast-DT</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>explorer.exe</Data>
<Data>6.1.7600.16404</Data>
<Data>4a765771</Data>
<Data>msvcrt.dll</Data>
<Data>7.0.7600.16385</Data>
<Data>4a5bdfbe</Data>
<Data>c000041d</Data>
<Data>000000000000120b</Data>
<Data>10d8</Data>
<Data>01ca7c331dc91f19</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\explorer.exe</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\system32\msvcrt.dll</Data>
<Data>5c3d9d90-e826-11de-b087-90e6ba2faf45</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

----------------------------------------------------------
Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 12/13/2009 3:30:29 PM
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Beast-DT
Description:
Faulting application name: Explorer.EXE, version: 6.1.7600.16404, time stamp: 0x4a765771
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5be02b
Exception code: 0xc000041d
Fault offset: 0x0000000000051da0
Faulting process id: 0x1f8
Faulting application start time: 0x01ca7c331879ed5d
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 59d51929-e826-11de-b087-90e6ba2faf45
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-12-13T20:30:29.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>2515</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Beast-DT</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>Explorer.EXE</Data>
<Data>6.1.7600.16404</Data>
<Data>4a765771</Data>
<Data>ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data>6.1.7600.16385</Data>
<Data>4a5be02b</Data>
<Data>c000041d</Data>
<Data>0000000000051da0</Data>
<Data>1f8</Data>
<Data>01ca7c331879ed5d</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data>59d51929-e826-11de-b087-90e6ba2faf45</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

------------
hah!
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/18805-wtf-up-all-these-windows-explorer-crashes.html

[Dr. Death]

For your 2017 event ID take a look at this article:

http://alan.lamielle.net/2009/09/03/windows-7-nonpaged-pool-srv-error-2017

If this is a clean install, how the fsck can you have so many files missing from your services list? Some of that stuff looks important. Perhaps this is a clue to why your system is messed up.

I would start by disabling the startup of every file in the HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run (rename the exe file so Windows can't find it.) Then monitor to see if it solves your problem. If it does, then re-enable half of them and continue to do a binary search to find the culprit.

EDIT - I just ran HJT on my W7 system and I got a bunch of missing services files too, so we can assume that is probably not the problem, but more likely a problem with HJT itself on W7

[dragonash]

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7files/thread/291c0945-c41f-4c8b-bca1-6b6d0836f62a

[Dr. Death]

OK.

Did anything in this thread help you? I noticed that the chronic complainer did basically what I suggested and disabled all his startup programs then reenabled them one by one until the problem was isolated. And for all his whining, it came down to a 3rd party program, not anything to do with Windows or his hardware.

Mac users, just wait until idiots start writing code for your machines...

[shifty]

Mac users, just wait until idiots start writing code for your machines...

It's already happening.

In addition to the idiots making the hardware. I had 2 more Santa Rosa 3,1 logic boards go out this year. $950 to replace, or send to a place in california to have the logic board repaired at the component level for $300 and keep your fingers crossed from there on out that it doesn't die again (which one did, so we returned and had repaired again under warranty.... Not cool.)

Applecare won't cover it because of dings in the chassis of the laptop. I was told logic board death on Macs has been a phenomenal problem on the Intel Macbooks. Only a fraction of a percent of G4s have the problem. My wife's Intel Macbook is also on the blink and is on the verge of dying. She's had it less than 3 years.

I use one at work. I would never in a million years buy an Intel Macbook for personal use.

[Ninjahedge]

So are you saying that it is Intel or Mac that suks then? ;)


Mac has its own weirdness. My mother has one for school. Because of an "update" is can no longer connect to her network at home. Great for a teacher that has E-mail and other things that need contact with kids and parents!!!!! No search feature either w/no net!

IT has looked at it, and I tried to connect when I was home, but Mac pretty much just has "see network, connect to network". She sees it, can click on it, it says it is connected and nothing....


I am not saying that all is bad, but the Mac lovers seem to think their machines are the best breads since sliced babies and nothing will convince them otherwise.

[dragonash]

yes, i have tried all that and to my annoyance, it seems to be the OS.
i mean, hell.... I get an error 5/10 times just closing an explorer window. I mean explorer restarts within 3 seconds, but i lose all of my open windows... its stupid.

and the shear fact that so many people are having the exact same issue points significantly to an OS problem.

[Dr. Death]

Just because it's happening when you interact with the OS doesn't mean the OS is at fault. Our whiner wasn't opening, closing or otherwise interacting with his problem auction widget; it was just loaded.

Guess it's time for a nuke and pave.

Start with JUST W7 and drivers. Get all the updates, and see if it still happens. If it does, then it's gotta be an issue with your hardware and/or drivers (not saying it's the FAULT of the hardware, but besides plain ol' MS files, that should be all there is on the computer.)

If that checks out clean, then start installing programs ONE BY ONE. I know it's a pain, but it's the only way without a debugger and a copy of the source code in front of you.

[Dr. Death]

Hey here's something cool I found while screwing around with W7 themes:

http://www.withinwindows.com/2009/03/15/windows-7-to-officially-support-logon-ui-background-customization/

No third party software, and no messing around with imageres.dll like earlier hacks had you do.

[dragonash]

i dunno
i am having the exact same problem as some people
press the del key to delete a folder and an error occurs
right click on the desktop and an error occurs
"X" out of a window and an error occurs

maybe i will try and downgrade my video drivers.
although it seems most of the errors include ntdll.dll ... which kind of means nothing at all.

did a scf /scannow and it didnt find anything.
Instead of formatting my hd again, (it was a lot of crap i had to copy over), maybe i will find another HD and do a clena install to see what happens.

[shifty]

Try a chkdsk /r

If it doesn't fix the issue, format and reinstall and see if it is resolved.

[dragonash]

actually, i used CCCleaner (i think that was the name)
cleaned up about 16 useless reg files.
Im trying to pinpoint exactly what might be causing this. So far I right clicked like a machine gun and no errors. Not to say the problem is fixed, but most of the time it seems to be a context menu thing.

a little less would be closing of explorer windows.

[shifty]

Probably CCleaner. I love that app.

[dragonash]

not to jinx myself, but so far, no errors.
I've read many-a-story how they go away for a week, then come back in full force.

it's like my damn comp has an STD!

[Ninjahedge]

Well then.... Don't F with it!

[shifty]

i think what hedge means is "don't stick yer dick in it"

[dragonash]

then what did i get all that ram for!?

[dragonash]

update:

well... it wasnt the reg messing with things.
So i disabled every non windows shell extention... lets see what happens

[Dr. Death]

I think you are on the right track. If you can find and disable everything, you should be able to isolate the problem.

Did you ever do the chkdsk /r that shifty suggested?

[dragonash]

update:
well, with all non windows extensions disabled, i still got the error.

One of the first things i did was run chkdsk and also did scf /scannow.

So with a clean reg and no 3rd party extensions, windows still gives the random errors.
Again, this is not limited to context menu's alone. It can happen when closing windows, double clicking any file or even pressing the "del" key to delete a file.

i am positive that this is not a bad install (and really do not want to do another install). There are too many people with the exact same and similar problems out there. This must be a OS issue

edit:

I just uninstalled the latest ATI video drivers and installed the prior ATI video drivers.
If I still get the errors, then I will flat out uninstall the ATI "Install Manager"

update:
so i did a few reviews on my potential fixes
I used shexview 32 bit... so i uninstalled and used the 64bit version... no difference. Still got the errors.
I downgraded video drivers. No difference.
I didnt bother uninstalling the advanced options of the video card... i feel there is no need.

I did however read that firefox was the cause of one persons problem
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&webtag=ab-pcsupport&tid=7605

So I uninstalled my favorite browser...
Lets see how this goes. If...and thats a big IF...then I will try to get used to Chrome.

update:
nope.. not firefox

update more:
uninstalled the 3rd party ATI programs (just lets me configure my card to a greater extent)

update with love:
http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/34826-right-click-desktop-causing-explorer-exe-crash.html

[Cerwin_Vega]

Probably CCleaner. I love that app.

Is that better than TuneUp Utlities?

[shifty]

it is a cleaning utility. Not familiar with the app you mention.

[Dr. Death]

If it's happening on clean installs, it's gotta be a driver problem. Drivers are the only 3rd party software that is involved on an initial install. The people who experience crashes ought to compare their hardware configs. There must be something in common.

The only other issue could be anti-virus. Some people won't even go on the net without A/V installed, and A/V software uses kernel mode stuff that acts much like drivers.