You may choose more EVIL now, or nothing
As usual (or at least as too often), the Reg headline was misleading. I thought Microsoft had figured out a new and more evil way to force us to use their garbage. The indirect model of forcing the OS and office suite on the manufacturers is one of their key "innovations" of their highly profitable business model. Too bad if you believe in freedom of choice, real competition, customer-driven innovation or any of that tripe (from the MS point of view, of course). However I still give them more EVIL brownie points for the nothing-is-our-fault-ha-HA anti-liability "innovations". You don't own this software. MS is just loaning you the plague of locusts (and other bugs).
So can anyone fix the latest Microsoft scams in Windows 7? Using the usual excuse of "security" upgrades, MS has recently started crippling Windows 7. All I've been able to figure out is that the system is NOT really idle, even if System Idle Process claims to be using 90% of the CPU. Quite common while booting, but I've hit it at various places, so it might be a booby trap or sabotage targeted at Adobe or Firefox (or both), rather than the forced-upgrade pressure campaign.