i have had my windows 7 for 2 months now its windows 7 ultimate x64 build 7600 RTM fully activated and ive installed the latest update and drivers and my explorer crashes all the time wen launching windows live messenger and sometimes wen i try to right click the desktop either the software isnt compatible or i have a bug or something else but windows 7 just came out in stores in australia a week ago and i got a copy of that and installed it activated it and im getting the same problems but vista works perfect i think im going to stick with vista for a year or so till they bring out Service Pack 1 i still think vista is the best and most compatible os

Windows 7 is a real OS on its own. But I think Microsoft made Windows 7 to get away from vista. But they did a lot to make the OS a lot better is a lot of regards. I run Windows 7 on my desktop and I have never had a problem unless I caused it and most times that is by overclocking. I have had a lot better software compatibility with Windows 7 than Windows Vista.

Windows Vista was a good OS in its own right to. It just people never gave it time to be fixed. I never had a problem with Windows Vista unless I caused(again by overclocking).
I don't think it is problem with the OS per say. I think it is the individual programs that are being run. Really Windows 7 and Windows Vista are the same OS and the differences should be unnoticeable in normal operation.

I would try doing a fresh reisntall of Windows 7, maybe that will clear up your problem with Live Messenger. Corrupted installs can mess up little things like that.

If your programs are crashing you've got bigger problems than what OS you're running. Something is corrupted or you've got bad hardware.