Random freezes with windows 7 - 64 bit

Same here I'm afraid. The problems are numerous and won't go away. I've decided to cut my loses and conduct a clean install because the 20 or so repair installs were obviously not working. The thing froze very soon after I had reinstalled Windows 7 64bit, though at least the problems aren't as bad for now. I'm not going to download any of the Windows updates either because it's partly to do with those, though who has the time to turn each of the 40+ updates on one at a time and then reboot your computer after each time? I certainly don't. I usually hate Apple and that Steve Jobs, but you know what? Never before does that idiot and his wares look so enticing. On this particular machine I have had more trouble than I've ever had with and MS OS - Vista included. I purchased Windows 7 on launch because of the very fact that Vista (I thought at teh time) was a complete disaster, but I have to say for all the nice and improved features and functionality, Windows 7 has caused me no end of pain. From constant random and undocumented freezing, mouse constantly lagging, mice losing power, USB ports not recognizing devices, frozen taskbars, uncontrollable volume switch which either goes up or down by itself, updates which cause more harm than good (such as loss of keyboard function after one such update)... the list goes on and on ad infinitum. This is from Windows 7 alone and I seriously only have good things to say about Vista *gasp*.

Windows Hotfix KB2265716 ("A computer that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 stops responding randomly"), released August 15, 2010, may be helpful to some.

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2265716/en-us

This seems to have worked for me (7 days with no freezes). Running 64bit Windows 7 on an Acer Aspire 5740. I was getting regular freezes, where the keyboard and mouse buttons became inactive. I could move the cursor with the mouse or touchpad, but not select anything. After about 1 min, everythng returned to normal and the keystrokes/clicks were processed (I usually typed ALt/TAB so that I could easily see when the system unfroze).

This seemed much more like a deadlock and timeout, as described in the hotfix,  than the sorts of solutions proposed above, although of course there may be several distinct problems being reported (and some solved) in this thread. The hotfix mentions LSASS and Redirected Drive Buffering Subsystem (Rdbss.sys) driver as being involved. Limted digging suggests that the latter is inviolved with network file share connections, which I do have, but others may not.

PS Changing the Windows theme to a non-Aero version as also suggested above did change the freeze behaviour - before changing the theme the cursor would not move. Otherwise as above.

REMOVE ADOBE FLASH!! I was seriously considering throwing my Compaq Presario F500 across the room because of the constant hangups I was experiencing with Windows 7 Ultimate 64. I noticed that Flash came up with an error every once in a while so I completely uninstalled it today and the stalls/hangups are gone. 

Maybe Steve Jobs was right about Flash?

Reading over the whole more than a years worth pile of info on random freezing tickles my noodle to smell a rat in the PC world, one that is chewing on whatever and whenever and it isn't a fluke.  Like the whole lot of those trying to find a pattern to the fabled OS to end all OS's, is the fact starting to dawn on many that maybe we've been had with something that few are going to figure out.  Power options shut down, screen savers disabled, viruess hunted for up the ying yang with the OS running and without with a rescue disk, audio drivers redone, undone and changed over, video drivers the same, reconfigured, memory tested, settinsg fudged, specs reviewed and then all the clever shotgun efforts ....... the truth is staring at us that maybe the hey day of whoever makes this stuff is over and we're being tripped up by who knows who inside and out.  Maybe it is a conspiracy to have us all buy the Apple cider machine and Mr. Jobs is rubbing his hands at the prospect and deal to make some more fault money.  In the past I've hated and waited my time for a new OS to prove itself usually after about 2 service packs later but I got google-eyed with reviews that the the sins of a new Windows was redeemed.  Well, it would seem that impatinece does not change a legacy of buggy new OS's.  So how to get out of this?  Spend a zillion more hours to convince ourselves that there is not an easy or doable solution to this quirky 7 OS.  I haven't read hardly any pattern of fixes that is repetitive enough to suggest that anyone has come up with anything that nails this deep freeze thing.  The logic is pretty sound here - if a lot of small but smarl PC owners can't find the problem or have had a good one given to them from some professional source, uh, maybe there isn't one like getting a bum new tire that won't hold air. I wish I could contribute something clever here to add to the legacy of neat fixing but I am just as lfogged as everyone else and I've been chasing these things for 25 years on every Win put out.  After about 1000 hard reboots to put up with this insidious crashing, XP revisited is starting to smell better than new paint.  If someone really knows what the heck is causing this, please put me on the top of the notify list.