Windows 7 application freezes

[VJ]

Hello,

I was running Windows 7 RC on my laptop (since August), and it ran beautifully. So when it started nagging about the trial period ending, I installed an official Windows 7 professional.
Now, most applications freeze for about one minute (could be longer): Internet Explorer, Firefox, ... (usually after opening a new webpage) Suddenly the applications fail to respond ("not responding" is added to the title bar), but they always come back after some time. Possiblly related: the firefox and thunderbird installers takes over 10 minutes to complete! Sometimes it also happens to Explorer, causing the whole system to freeze for a while.
The log files shows no errors; all the drivers for the laptop were obtained through Windows Update (not a single unsigned driver).

Any thoughts?
It is driving me up the wall!

Thanks!

Jörg

[Fat Tone]

Anything in the logs?

I used to get several IE crashes a day till I disabled the skype plugin. Now Win 7 is (touch wood) completely stable for me.

I'm booting off an SSD. I would like to know what makes it spin my old HDDs every so often even though I haven't been near them.

[VJ]

The log file shows no errors, but there are refering to Microsoft Security Essentials at the time of the freezes (the entries are just "info")... I'm guessing (just guessing) it may be the cause.

The freezes don't occur on a clean installation that has not been updated, so it must be caused by one of the updates. I'll try now updating completely, but without security essentials.

[VJ]

On a fully updated clean installation without Security Essentials it doesn't occur... (I put back a Ghost image of my clean Windows installation)

I found some references that Security Essentials should disable Windows Defender, but apparently this is not always the case. So my guess is that it happens when they both are active. I've now installed Security essentials, and will see what happens...

[Jammrock]

The first of the Win7 RC disable dates have hit. After two hours of use your computer will disable itself until you logoff/logon.

[UtwigMU]

I had some issues with some Lenovo software (Access connections) - this was installing beta software on RC.But it was resolved with official release. On T42p I had some glitches with wireless but I upgraded wireless MiniPCI adapter from ab to Intel 2200bg and they're gone. Also had some issues with Firefox (3.6 Beta, Adblock Plus extension). Everything is OK now.

[Evildead666]

I did have some of the strange IE8 problems you mention, but not for a while.
I supposed an update sorted it.

Not had any probs with Win7u since I installed it saturday.
Apart from not setting the fan of the 5850 high enough when OC, and getting a nice black screen....45% is NOT enough. 65% is

Thinking of getting Win7 certification at some point this year.

[VJ]

The first of the Win7 RC disable dates have hit. After two hours of use your computer will disable itself until you logoff/logon.

Yes, I know... but it is a purchased version, activated and all.

After installing the Microsoft Security Essentials, it came back! Uninstalling it solved the problem again. So that is what is causing it... The question now is: why? I had it running on my RC, with the same software installed (ok, now I have just more recent versions). I'll reinstall the Security Essentials, and have it scan the drive: maybe it will recognize the applications and not intervene with them?

[Marshmallowman]

its never a good idea to install 2 virus scanners at the same time

[VJ]

I never had 2 virusscanners at the same time. I did a clean install of the Windows 7 professional, then installed Security Essentials, and ran into these problems. The Windows Defender was disabled, so it should not give problems (it cannot be uninstalled from Windows 7, but according to MS, it will disable automatically when security essentials in installed).
The solution for me was to remove Security Essentials, but this would leave me unprotected, so I installed AVG.