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[mnemonicj Profile]

Windows 7 Windows Explorer keeps freezing on me. It just freezes randomly, but more often each day. Sometimes it freezes when I right click on something (a file to check the properties, the Recycle Bin to empty it, etc.), or when I open My Computer, or when I am just browsing around looking for a file.

It is getting really annoying and the only solution I have found searching so far is to make sure Windows 7 has installed this update KB970789, which my installation already has. Anyone else have this issue and found a solution?

I am running a Dell Vostro 410
Intel Quad Core 6600
2GB RAM
Two 80GB Hitachi SATA hard drives in a RAID 0
Dual booting Windows 7 build 7100 and Windows Vista Business
Windows 7 is a client on a Windows Server 2003 domain

[JabbaPapa Profile]

I'm not completely sure, but this may be indicative of either a hardware or a drivers issue -- possibly drivers.

The W7 drivers model appears to be somewhat different to the Vista ; in my experience anyway, W7 7100 includes some beta drivers that do not always work exactly as desired. On my own main computer, it installed a bad ethernet driver which would always cause connection issues and would often cause hang and even BIOS instability, problems which seem to have vanished after a new driver appeared on WU and was automatically installed on my rig.

Of course, the above symptoms could also occur upon some hardware failure -- BUT the W7 and Vista drivers models are NOT so dissimilar that hardware-related issues in W7 would not be replicated in Vista, in my opinion.

Of course number 2, it could also just be an old bug that has since been fixed.

I would check WU for the optional updates, and see if any new hardware drivers are available. You could also scour the websites of the manufacturers of your hardware components for new W7 drivers, including for your graphics card.

Anyway -- is it just Explorer freezing specifically, or do all open windows on your desktop hang simultaneously ?

It is possible though, that only patience and/or W7 RTM installation would solve that issue.

I feel that it's far more likely to be a beta drivers issue than anything else

[mnemonicj Profile]

It is just Windows Explorer that freezes. All of the other programs I have open at the time are responsive when Windows Explorer is not.

Is it better to use the Nvidia Windows 7 Beta drivers for a graphics card or would it be better to use the Windows Vista drivers?

[JabbaPapa Profile]

Is it better to use the Nvidia Windows 7 Beta drivers for a graphics card or would it be better to use the Windows Vista drivers?

It is better to download the latest drivers for W7 from the nVidia website.